A Chasper Fic
by LusciousNesha
Summary: No, Charlotte didn't dream about him, she didn't even really like him like that. But, what if whenever Jasper thought for a moment that she had dreamed of him, he set out to make the dream come true? (Takes place following I Dream of Danger)
1. Charper (No)… Jasplotte!

**Charper (No)… Jasplotte!**

Only just for a moment, things got a little weird. Charlotte dreamed about Henry. Henry dreamed about Charlotte. She was brave enough to run hers by him in the lion's den. He'd rather sew his own lips shut than to bring up the dreams that he had had. But, then… Things between them neutralized. As soon as he took his own advice - "_Dreams are weird, Dude." _

But, there was another reason that things went back to normal for Charlotte and Henry… Because things got really weird with her and Jasper, or at least it seemed that way to Henry.

He first noticed it whenever they went into the Mole people tunnels. Charlotte was uncharacteristically carefree and upon realizing that they could tunnel their way to Nacho Ball, the gang went into the tunnels for a friends' day out. Well, when they hit up Six Poles Over Swellview, Jasper kept rushing to sit with her on rides and then won her a stuffed dinosaur. Jasper was always very competitive, so Henry didn't think much about the number of times he tried to get that plushie for her. Ray's only rule was that Jasper not sit on rides with him, so Jasper clinging to Char there wasn't completely out of character either.

Whenever the mole people threatened them, more than a few times, Jasper seemed to be trying to block Charlotte from them. He figured it was one of those natural reflexes. Jasper was a gentleman, after all. It could be perfectly normal for him to be that guy, the one that tries to defend a lady. Henry just wasn't sure if he'd seen Jasper do this before, _for_ Charlotte, that is. He'd seen him straight up attack a vacuum moments after it sucked her up, though. He'd seen him take a good cactus pummeling to guard a girl on the first and only date. So… Yeah, maybe Jasper did stuff like that all the time and he simply hadn't noticed before. Maybe the only reason that he _had _noticed that time was because after the weird dreams, he sort of had been paying a little more attention to Charlotte. Not like in an "I want her," way, but more like an, "Honestly, dude… Dreams are WEIRD" way. He kept wondering… WHY did they have those dreams about each other? Anyway, he brushed off the idea that Jasper was being weird around Charlotte.

While Jasper helped Charlotte load batteries into Ray's spotlight for the imminent rescue, Jasper wondered, "Hey… Mole People haven't terrorized you, have they?"

"No chance. We've got Mole People repellent on the grounds. There's not a single pest that my dad would ever let onto Page property."

"Cool," Jasper said. Schwoz was annoyed that he was still tied up, but more irritated by whatever it was that was taking place with Jasper. He was being weird, even for him. But, he was following Charlotte's lead, so hopefully soon _she _would decide that Schwoz needed to be freed.

After Charlotte rescued Ray and Henry from the Mole People, Jasper kicked a retreating one in the butt, and a blindfolded Henry punched Jasper in the face; they rushed out to avoid getting blown up. Jasper left her. Yep, typical Jasper… But, whenever she tried to run past, he definitely let her pass and pushed her from behind to speed her through. She, Jasper and Henry hugged when they made it out in time and looked at the spot where things collapsed. "Think we should have helped Ray out?" Jasper wondered.

"He's. Indestructible." Charlotte reminded him, with a pat on the shoulder.

.

Whenever Jasper showed up to their morning walk to school with her favorite cupcake and her exact coffee order, Henry's eyebrow raised, though he didn't say anything about it. Jasper didn't get _him _any cupcake or coffee! They started talking about band practice and while Charlotte was mostly just eating her creme brulee cupcake while Jasper was just telling her how great she was at music, Henry felt left out. That was surprising. This never happened. Sure, they had their own friendship, outside of him and it had definitely grown since Jasper began working with them at Junk n' Stuff, but… Now, they seemed downright cozy and, "REALLY, Jasp? No treats for me, huh?"

Jasper and Charlotte stopped and stared at him. Jasper was at a loss for words, but Charlotte swallowed her last bit of cupcake and reminded him, "Thought you wanted to make sure that your figure was ready for your Hot Boi Summer?"

Henry folded his arms and reminded her, "I can eat cupcakes and be a hot boi. I mean, look at Jasper!" Then he cleared his throat and Jasper blushed.

Charlotte joked, "Get a room, whydontcha!"

Henry stammered over his words as Charlotte continued walking, shaking her head. Jasper waited for a moment, then he and Henry whisper fussed, "What's wrong with you, why would say something like that in front of her?"

"What's wrong with you? That's _Charlotte_ for crying out loud! Why are you acting like she's a girl?"

"She's a woman! A beautiful smart woman and you're not gonna block me this time with your ambiguously jilted lover schtick!"

Charlotte looked back at them, not having heard a word of that, and said, "Well, I'm gonna let you lovebirds have your spat. I'm gonna get to work. Hope you work it out!" She continued walking and Jasper clenched his fists and groaned.

"Wait, Jasp… Seriously… _Seriously? _Are you really… into her?"

"No, Henry. God, you don't have to be so jealous all the time." Jasper kept walking. Henry stammered over his words again. He wasn't _jealous. _But, if Jasper said that he wasn't interested in Charlotte, he believed him. Jasper didn't lie to him. He knew that he had no reason to.

Truth was, Jasper was scared. He didn't scare easily. He didn't shame easily. Jasper had very few times in life where he even regretted anything. He was confident and even if he was wrong, he was fine with that. He knew that nobody was perfect and he accepted that he wasn't any exception. But, Charlotte _was. _She was an exception. She was perfect. He knew, from the moment he heard that she was dreaming about him that he had a new dream, a new mission and a new path to try to follow. But, he also knew that his chances were slim… And Henry had just made them even slimmer. He needed to separate Henry from this thing. He had to go it alone. That was cool. He and Henry didn't have to share _everything. _Henry didn't have to know all of his business either.

Maybe he'd gone too far with his ministrations if Henry noticed that he was trying to impress her. Maybe he had to dial it back. If anybody knew what Charlotte liked and wanted, it was Jasper… Not really because he was simply so good at knowing people, but because he was generally her first line of communication whenever she had a crush on somebody, or somebody had a crush on her. He was a good listener and she knew that he wouldn't make fun of her, like Henry might, so she confided in him about stuff like that. Her advice to him was usually along the lines of telling him that he went too far with his efforts. That wasn't what he wanted to do, not with her. So, he had to step it back… and he had to keep Henry out of it. He'd had a dream about that, actually.

In the dream: _Charlotte had to stay after school to help with student tutoring. Jasper brought her some Nacho Ball and threw in a burrito shaped stress ball because, "I know that stupid people give you anxiety and you can't call them stupid in tutoring sessions."_

"_Awwww," Charlotte had said. But, by that time, Henry couldn't hold back any longer._

_They walked out of the school and Henry asked, "What's going on with you and Charlotte, Dude?"_

_Jasper excitedly wondered, "You think she's feeling me?" Henry snickered, then chuckled, then cackled, then tried to bring his guffaw down through catching his breath. Jasper frowned._

"_Sorry, Bro. It's just… It's Charlotte, you know? Does she really feel anybody? I don't even think that she's noticed that you've been extra sweet on her lately. Speaking of… What? When did this happen? Why you all of a sudden into Char?"_

_Jasper smiled and looked up at the clouds, trying not to gush as he said, "Well, I overheard her talking to Piper and she said that she was having dreams about kissing me. I don't know - I guess I never thought she'd ever think about me that way, and pretty much from the moment I found out, I've been into it." He shrugged, "She's really pretty and smart and if I have my foot in the door,.. I mean, why wouldn't I try?"_

"_Charlotte was having dreams about you too?" Henry wondered. _

"_Too?" Jasper stopped walking and his head fell. "Not too…" He sighed, "There's no way that she was actually talking about me. I feel stupid. You were right to laugh. Charlotte would never go out with me. Especially if she was actually dreaming about you, instead."_

"_I think you're being too hard on yourself. It has nothing to do with me that Charlotte would never go out with you. She's Char. You know. Smartest girl we know and keeps a cool head, but she just… doesn't really like people and stuff."_

_Jasper nodded his head, but Henry could tell that he was bummed out._

Then, Jasper woke up and clutched his heart. He'd asked Charlotte about it and she admitted that she hadn't been having dreams about him. He was crestfallen. But, she added, "But, I do think that relationship-wise, you'd probably be much better than Henry could be." And to him, that meant LEGGO! He tried not to smile too wide at it. He failed, but she didn't give him a hard time. And now… He wasn't sure where he was on the path, but he wasn't getting off of it.


	2. Charlotte's House

_Henry Danger be sometimes throwing out these little one liners for lolz but, I think really hard about it at times, because there is some actually seriously toxic and abusive behaviors they've mentioned. So, as I'm known to do, I will be utilizing angst in this fic. This chapter features some._

**Charlotte's House**

Jasper and Charlotte walked to Charlotte's after they had been brainstorming with Ray and Henry about how to deal with Hally the Computer. Eventually, Charlotte pointed out how not only was this the responsibility of the heroes of Swellview and the "Man of the Cave," but that as long as Ray was swinging that sword around, she wouldn't be able to think clearly anyway.

Jasper once again reiterated, in case anyone had forgotten, "TERRIFIED!"

Henry complained, but stopped immediately when Ray nearly killed Jasper again and he had to pull him in the other direction with the sword.

Whenever Charlotte got home, she observed, "Well, my parents aren't here. So if Hally sends the Man drones, at least my family won't be killed."

Jasper gasped, "Do you think that she would do that?"

"She 600% suctioned me out of the tube. I'm not putting anything passed Old Girl."

"Well, you want me to stay until your parents get home, in case she does something like that?"

"How can you staying possibly help?"

"Well, I could distract the drones while you escape?" She made a face. What a crazy idea! He quickly added, "Or, for her advantage, she doesn't have to send any to my house, because she kills both of us here."

"Well, if I had thought this out, I'd have suggested we spend the night at your place."

"You would spend the night at _my _house?"

She thought about his insufferable mother and the fact that with his small checks, he sort of had to fend for himself, more often than not. His mom locked cabinets and the fridge at certain times, since he was 7, because he was "too fat," and just kept that horrible practice up to the point where he became a food stasher. She often forgot to buy stuff, like toilet paper, and there were no towels in there! Like… what did she want to do, bring back the Plague?

"You got me there. I hate everything about your house." She didn't add _And your mom, _because she knew that would have been rude. "Well, I kinda like the thought of having drone bait, but trust me, if she sends any, neither of us are making it out of here. Hopefully, it doesn't harm my face or hair. My parents want to do open casket, if anything should happen."

He was going to comment on the greatness of her face and hair, but was more distracted by, "Why do you know that?"

"We've got plans for every possible conceivable life event, including death. What, you think that my organizational skills, overanalyzing, and extensive preparation was self taught?" They went inside and she let him wash up in her parents' bathroom and borrow a robe of her dad's. She threw his clothes from the day into the wash and went into her bathroom to wash up, as well.

Whenever she came out Jasper was sitting on the spare bed in her dad's robe, waiting nervously. She thought she knew what this was about. He was worried about Henry. She was too, but she also didn't feel like fighting with Hally. After her Courtney Sham scare, she wasn't getting into any scuffles with unstable girlfriends of her friends… Even if she is a computer. She sat on the side of her bed, facing him in her pajamas with her head tied up for the night and nodded her head, "I get it. I'm not gonna sleep until I get the text that he's alright, too. Feel like doing the thing?"

Usually, whenever they were left behind during one of the Man Cave's dangerous missions, they came into the same room to give each other reminders of how great their friends are and that's why they'll come back fine. But, Jasper actually didn't want to do that. He wasn't in the mood. So, instead, he said, "I'm actually pretty tired, but feel kinda bad about wanting to sleep while they're trying to battle Hally. To be honest, Henry's probably more in danger with Ray wielding Justice than from the computer."

"Get your sleep, Jasper. I'll feel better knowing at least _one _of us has some peace." He nodded, but remained sitting for a moment. He looked like he had something to say. "What is it?" She asked.

Jasper wanted to tell her that he'd been thinking about her lately, that he'd been feeling things, and he wanted her to feel things too. But the chances of that, this soon were slim. He hadn't put in enough work yet. "Nothing. Goodnight, Charlotte." He laid down as she simply nodded her head. She was awake for a while longer, until she got the call from Henry.

She got up, so that she wouldn't wake Jasper and she stepped out. "Henry! Did you get things taken care of?"

"It's a good news, bad news scenario."

"Is Hally gone?"

"Yep."

"So, that's the good news. And the bad?"

"Ray crumbled the platinum Frittle."

"OH MAN!" She squealed. She heard Jasper groan in his sleep and she silently scolded herself for being loud, and peeked in. He was still asleep, but seemed like he was having a nightmare. In fact, he seemed extremely shaken up. "Ugh. I'm gonna go. I think Jasper's having a bad dream."

"Jasper's over? Cool. Should I come crash, too?"

"Do you need to?" She was about to go to bed, now that she knew he was safe, but she supposed she could leave the window open.

"Not really. Just starting to feel more and more left out with the two of you."

She laughed and said, "That's silly. You just have more responsibilities, so we end up together more. He's only here tonight because he didn't want me to be alone. But, I gotta check on him. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Click."

"Click."

Jasper was squirming and sweating, so Charlotte was unsure if she should touch him or anything. She adjusted the air, covered him up, set the diffuser and whenever she got near him, he jumped up and shouted. She shouted too and covered her chest. "Jasper, are you okay?" He nodded, but he was breathing hard. "Jasper?"

"Yeah. Sorry. Sometimes, I have nightmares. Never should have went to sleep without knowing if Henry was okay." That was partially true. He felt like the nightmare of Man drones flying in and murdering Charlotte in her sleep was punishment for going to sleep on her when Henry was out there risking his skin.

"Well, he is fine. They got rid of Hally." She was rubbing Jasper's face and didn't realize it until his eyes went towards her hands. She abruptly let go and wondered, "You wanna talk about it?"

He shook his head. "Sorry if I woke you up or anything."

"I was just about to go to sleep… You sure that you're okay?"

"I won't disturb you." He laid back down, feeling weak and embarrassed. Great going. Now, she was _never _gonna take him seriously…

Then, Charlotte surprised him. She grabbed some lavender oil and sat at the foot of the bed, "Do you mind if I touch you to try to help you sleep?"

"I don't mind at all," he said, looking down at her. She smiled gently and took one of his feet. "I'm ticklish!" He warned.

"Awwww," she cooed. "Well, I just want to try some reflexology massage to help with your stress. Something's bothering you to have such intense nightmares."

"It could have been worse. Sometimes, it's sleep paralysis." He felt relaxed already. "Whenever I was researching stuff on the WTF is Wrong with Me app…"

"You actually use that app?" She snickered when she asked it.

"I have to. Can't afford therapy and my mom honestly doesn't chat me up about my issues because she has a guilty conscious. It's not as easy being a weirdo as I make it seem."

"You do come across as extremely comfortable being offbeat."

"Never had much of a choice. It was either I love me for me or hate myself. Figured other people hated me enough, starting with my parents. You and Henry are the only people that I have." She bit her lip. "Sorry! That's a bit much. I should just shut up."

"No. You're relaxed and talking through whatever you have going on. Friends can do that."

"I first started looking into it… well… whenever I was…" he sighed and asked, "Remember whenever you said I was the Playground Pooper and I mentioned in passing my struggles with potty training?"

"I very vividly remember that, even though we glazed right over it." She had actually forgotten about it, but now that he mentioned it - of course she remembered that weird ass justification!

"Because who has accidents that late in life? I wanted to see. As far as I can tell - stress, neglect, and emotional abuse from my mom." Jasper gasped. He hadn't meant to say that. He was getting too relaxed, now. "I hate that I'm pouring out like this…" She couldn't think of anything to say, so he kept going, trying to somehow fix some of this. "Sometimes, people that you might think are just stupid are actually emotionally traumatized. Our brains develop differently whenever we grow up with stuff our minds can't handle. I read a bunch of articles about that."

"Jasper.. I had no idea it was that bad. I mean, your mom is a horror, for sure. And I have thought on numerous occasions that her ways weren't healthy. But I didn't know that you were nightmares and bedwetting stressed out because of her."

"I haven't wet the bed in years," he reminded her.

"Right. But… 4 years ago is less time than Henry has been doing his work!" She let go of his foot and said, "You seem embarrassed, but really, you should be proud. You went out to figure yourself out and helped yourself, without any support from her or me and Henry - because I know that if I didn't know, he probably didn't either.. Not everyone is so independent." She yawned. What a terrible time to do that, but God, she was exhausted.

"Hey.. thanks for letting me talk, but you should get some sleep. After that reflexology thing, I'm going back."

"Well, the lavender I used probably helped."

"You're the greatest, Charlotte. I swear. Good night."

She tried to fight the tingling she felt when he said that. "Good night to you." Weird. Tingles? I must really be tired.

.

Charlotte woke up the next day excited to find out if Jasper has slept well the second time around, but apparently, he had enough time to get dressed, fold her dad's robe and leave it on the spare bed, send her a thank you text, and bail before she got up. She sighed, unsure of what she was bothered by.

He'd let her know in the text that he has to get home because his mom was calling. He told her thank you for the space, the sleep, and the talk. He even made a rose out of characters. Why was she salty that she didn't get to actually check in with him this morning? She rolled her eyes at herself and got up to get ready for work. Since Hally wasn't there, she guessed it'd be business as usual. So, she wasn't going to treat Jasper any differently for his confessions last night. She would never bring it up again, unless he needed to. She did feel like there was some kind of shift in how she saw him though. Who'd have thought that her goofy, silly, but sweet friend was really a wounded, self-aware man of mystery? Wait, should I feel bad for sort of thinking that traumatized Jasper is kind of… attractive? "Yes! Yes, you should feel bad and you shall never mention this again or even think about it!"


	3. Robin's Telling

_I'm using some of my head canons I shared when writing-excuses was wondering about ones we have for Chasper in this fic. So, y'all'll see some things that aren't necessarily canon, but I'm trying to a certain degree to be canonical with who the characters are at their core, and trying to build the story on that. Try to be patient with me, as this ain't really that popular of a ship and don't really have a super amount of 'canon fodder.' Lol._

**Robin's Telling or Tales from the Friendship Zone**

So, whenever they were in 6th grade, Jasper and Charlotte were assigned to this team building experiment disguised as a creative writing project. They had to write a round robin story, which means that they took turns adding material to the story and had to try to feed off of the last of the information by their partner to write the installment of the story. Jasper started it off and Charlotte found it a challenge to sometimes make sense of whatever nonsense he had written, but she was a girl who could appreciate a good challenge. What she hadn't appreciated was the ruse by their teacher to make her and Jasper get along better! But. she had to admit, it helped.

The friends used the story and the notebook it was written in to continue this process and in turn, sort of built upon their friendship as the saga continued. When they came to the end of the spiral, Jasper panicked. "It can't be over! We never made an ending for it!" He was seriously freaking out. Charlotte happened to have another spiral notebook available at the time, and she said, "Look... We can keep it up. Maybe... this could be the second season of it. I'll even start it out." She opened it and started this new installment of the story, then passed it to him. "Chill out. One of these days, it has to end."

"According to who?" He wondered, snatching the spiral from her. She rolled her eyes and walked off.

And now, they were in season 6 of Robin's Telling, as she liked to call it (He called it Tales from the Friendship Zone), and they rarely ever really used it, but every now and then, one of them would either continue from where they left off or ask the other if they had continued yet. It was in Jasper's care at the moment and after he left her house (which was done after he watched her sleep for a little bit, then realized that was probably weird and creepy, but waking her up was probably dangerous). He got home and his mom wasn't even there. Typical. But, he was able to pull out the current spiral and get some writing done. He'd pass it off to her at Man Band practice.

.

Charlotte and Henry were laughing and playing video games whenever Jasper came into work. "Hey, Jasp!" Henry cheered. Charlotte didn't say anything. Jasper wondered if everything was okay between them.

"Hey," he said and put his gym bag away. "What are you two playing?"

"I'm playing. He's just losing," Charlotte said, laughing.

"I'm playing, she's just being mean," Henry corrected.

"Neither of those statements answered my question, but enjoy." He went back to the store and Henry gave Charlotte a weird look. She ignored it and continued playing, so he moved on, too.

Later, whenever it was time for them to go home, Henry and Charlotte were discussing plans for at Henry's house. Apparently, they were hanging out after work, too. Eventually, Henry made some comment that seemed to elude that Jasper was invited too, but he didn't know if he wanted to hangout with the two of them. Maybe he was just overly sensitive because he shared a lot of very intimate. personal information with Charlotte and she seemed to be acting like it never happened. Maybe she was avoiding speaking with him because he made her uncomfortable. At any rate, he said, "I don't know how my mom's gonna act if I spend two nights away from home."

"No, you'll be home later tonight," Henry said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Maybe, you could call ahead and check in with her, to see if she's more understanding, if you do it that way?" Charlotte suggested.

Jasper nodded, "Yeah, I'll do that." Whenever he spoke on the phone with his mom, he told her that he would be hanging out with Henry until later on... "Yeah, she's hanging out too..." Then he sighed and was listening to something for a while. Charlotte and Henry looked at each other. "There's nothing like that going on. We're all just friends. She's a good girl. Top of the class..."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow and leaned into the mouthpiece to say, "HEY JASPER'S MOM!" Henry pulled her to the other side of himself and Jasper rolled his eyes, but they didn't know whether at Charlotte instigating with his mom, or with his mom, obviously on the other line, trash talking Charlotte.

"I'm sure that she'll be home by a time that's decent for a young lady. She's a good egg. I don't feel like doing this. Do you need anything? Okay. Yeah, love you too." He hung up and asked Charlotte, "Why would you provoke her?"

"She's trash," Charlotte said, simply. Henry gasped and Jasper furrowed his eyebrows. "Sorry. I meant to say she was talking trash about me. My bad. Words got choppy in my head." She really meant what she'd said, but that was a bit much to say to someone's face about their mom.

"Good save," Henry said, sarcastically and wrapped an arm around Jasper's shoulder, "But, what kind of trash was she talking about Charlotte?"

"I'm interested, as well."

"She asked, if my little friend was gonna be there, said what's her name, then pretended to say the wrong names. Then, she said that if a girl hangs out with a couple of boys this much something fresh must be going on.

He didn't want to go into detail, but his mother had advised him to use protection, in case she had something and also forbid him to do anything with her if both boys were in the room..

"You know what? I'm gonna shut my mouth and move on with my life," Charlotte said. Jasper's mom had SOME nerve, after the child-rearing job she'd done. Which reminded her, "Oh! Hey, I found something that might be useful for you. Actually, I heard an ad when I was listening to one of my podcasts. I'll send you the info. She texted him a link to a therapy connection that charged $30 a week and you could text a licensed therapist! He smiled to himself and put his phone away.

Henry was curious about what she'd sent to him, but tried not to butt in. There was some kind of other friendship happening with those two that he knew he wasn't included in. SO, he made a conversation topic that the three could participate in.

.

At Henry's, Jasper seemed in his own world. Charlotte was concerned about it, because he usually was the most talkative and cheerful one. At some point, while Henry was in the bathroom, she asked, "You okay, Jasper?"

He sighed, "I thought maybe you didn't care one way or another. I'm… worried that I weirded you out with all my baggage. You're not supposed to unpack in front of people unless you're going to be there for a while. I feel like I just dumped it all over the place and then suddenly, you were distant."

"It wasn't like that to me. I thought that speaking about your trauma probably stirred up some things and maybe you could use a break from focusing on it. Sorry if I seemed taken aback. I wasn't. In fact, I feel closer to you than ever. I'm honestly glad you felt like you could come to me. Are you gonna use that service I sent you?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna check it out. Do you mind if I hug you?"

She smiled and went over for the hug, fell on his lap and they laughed about it, but she didn't move. Jasper had a pretty cozy hug. They didn't usually hug much, but his arms were bigger than she'd noticed and he was soft and slightly cushioned. It was like hugging a lifesize, warm, plushie, or as comforting, anyway. Plus… did Jasper always smell this good? That was definitely new.

He strummed her back and she rested on his shoulder until they heard, "Whoa!" Henry was back and he was shocked and confused by the contact.

Charlotte got up and said, "I fell. Shut up."

"Fell and landed right in Jasper's lap, into a hug, on his shoulder, huh?"

"That's what I said," she told him.

Henry looked at Jasper. "What? Sometimes people fall." He smiled at Charlotte and her face went warm. _Sometimes people fall. _Such a simple and true statement. Sometimes people fall in more ways than one. Not as simple, but she couldn't tell yet if she minded it at all.


	4. Time Well Spent

Charlotte was off to her L.I.M.P. Summer Camp, for the last time. She would be away for a couple of weeks and not really have the time to contact her friends and stuff. She would have time to make little videos of herself, though. So, that's what she decided to do. Almost as soon as she would post, Jasper would heart them, and comment something encouraging. Whenever she got back home, he was the first person that she called, to let him know that she was back and to see if he wanted to hang out for a while.

She had tanned even darker over the past couple of weeks, and had her hair temporarily in braids. "Should we call Henry?" She wondered. But, Henry was on patrol, so they went without him to catch up and eat. They did that a few times whenever he was on patrol.

.

Whenever they met up again, Charlotte came with a maple bacon donut and a vanilla milkshake for Jasper, and Jasper came with her cupcake and coffee order. Henry looked between the both of them and wondered, "SO… Nobody told me that we'd be grabbing sweets and drinks? I just gotta settle for auto snacker breakfast, huh? You two are just gonna…" He realized that neither of them were paying attention to him. They were kinda in their own world, exchanging the orders and talking about the lines at their respective spots. His was long, hers short. Charlotte made a face each time Henry made a sound, so he knew that she heard/was actively ignoring him, but Jasper was as focused on her as each of his brain cells would allow.

Finally, she turned to Henry and said, "And I got YOU some churros and horchata." She and Jasper walked shoulder to shoulder and Henry trailed behind, scarfing down churros and just observing. Little things. Jasper desperately keeping himself from taking her hand into his, so much that his fingers twitched and he shivered when their hands brushed against each other's. Charlotte … giggling?

"Hey.. You two dating?" Henry asked.

Charlotte sighed and rolled her eyes, "Henry…" She just shook her head, like she couldn't believe that he had asked that. But, Henry noted to himself, she didn't say "_No." _And… from what he remembered from the number of times that Schwoz had asked her about herself and Henry, she _usually _very quickly shut down the possibility of it. So, even if she and Jasper _weren't _dating… She… Didn't seem as against it as she had been against the thought of dating Henry. He would've thought she'd be even more argumentative about dating Jasper. She didn't seem like the girl who a few months ago was disgusted by the thought of sharing a retainer with him. Now… she was touching the small of his back and laughing quietly with him. "It's cute," Henry said.

"Don't," was all that Charlotte said back to him, giving him a Stern look when she did. Charlotte wasn't trying to go in circles with Henry about what was or wasn't happening with Jasper. Mainly because she didn't even know for herself, so it wasn't Henry's business until she understood it enough to explain. Jasper didn't respond, either time. But, he couldn't stop smiling, either.

Technically, they weren't "dating," but they had been spending time together with just the two of them and they did stuff like this for each other whenever they could. She also was considerate and remembered to get something for Henry. Jasper usually forgot by the time he made his way to the front of the long line. He'd get his breakfast and make sure to get Charlotte's because she liked this place more than the place closer to her house, but it was out of her way whenever she met up with them, usually. This place was fine, but they didn't have fun stuff like that maple bacon donut, which Jasper could literally eat an entire box of by himself. So, they wound up getting each other's likes on the way.

Now, Jasper could easily take all this to mean that Charlotte was just a good friend and being considerate of her boys. But, while she didn't forget Henry when she made a purchase. She wasn't walking next to him with her hand in contact with his body the whole time. Jasper wasn't the smartest guy, but he was good at paying attention to what girls he wanted did.

.

Man Band practice generally went well. But, neither of them felt like practicing today. They were going to do nothing. Doing nothing was fun and they hadn't been able to do nothing for a while. So, instead of practicing, they just hung out and talked. Charlotte played her instrument a little, then Jasper wanted to try, so she stood behind him to position his hands and explain how to play. He was being as cute and charming as he could be, and Charlotte admitted at some point, "I kinda can see how you won over a couple of cute girls in your life. You're kinda smooth when you wanna be, aren't you?"

It took a lot of his self control not to squee at her compliment. He could hardly breathe, but he was very aware that she was looking at him, probably for a reaction. He did his best not to give her one. He told himself to play this cool. "Well, I wanna be smooth all of the time. No matter how much I try, I know I'd never be able to get a girl like you, though."

Now, it was him waiting and watching for a reaction. She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Maybe you could… But, it wouldn't be easy." She got from behind him and grabbed her green tea smoothie, and took a sip. Her eyes traced Jasper and he noticed, or he thought he did. But, he wasn't sure and after her last statement… He simply made a silent agreement. _Challenge Accepted. _

Ray came in dressed as Captain Man and they both grabbed their instruments, giggled about almost being caught slacking off, and began practicing. Come to find out… He didn't even remember telling them to learn to play them! Ugh. Charlotte was done with him already. But, work soon called. Though, work tonight was going to be an undercover party.

Jasper was in a great mood. Partially because they were going to be allowed to go on the mission with the team. Charlotte wasn't excited about it, but of course Jasper was. Plus, Ray had told Jasper that he could be his human shield? He was indestructible! How could Jasper _possibly _think that was a good deal? As Charlotte designed her dress and made her recipe, she called out, "Schwoz!" He came rushing over and she asked, "You didn't put any more butt in here, did you?"

He smiled and said, "I don't know."

"I'm gonna go grab a dress. Tell the guys I'll be back before Henry even wakes up." She grabbed her bag and muttered, "I'm not chewing no butt!"

.

Upon going to the party and realizing that they were improperly dressed, Charlotte went to do a quick change, then got to work. Jasper soon followed suit. If there was anybody to follow, it was Charlotte. So, he did what she did. Then, they chilled a while.

They probably should have been working, but Henry and Ray were working, so both of them decided to relax a little. Besides, Joss Moss was going to open her gifts and Jasper and Charlotte were both excited to see what she might get.

"O.M.G. These have gotta be the best gifts known to man. If I don't wind up making it big, I've gotta marry rich. I should be this spoiled!" Charlotte said.

Jasper committed that comment to memory and helped himself to a drink. Henry sat down with them, trying to talk about the mission, but both of his friends were clearly distracted.

It was frustrating for Henry. He couldn't help but be annoyed. First, his two best friends began getting closer when he wasn't around, then they began showing that closeness, right in front of his face, and now - they had been invited on this job and neither of them seemed to even care! In fact, Jasper rushed off to steal Charlotte a bag! Henry was mentally exhausted with the two of them, more Jasper, though. Charlotte at least contributed by causing a distraction for him.

At the end of the party, Jasper and Charlotte left together, her with a new bag in tow and him feeling pretty much like her hero for getting it for her. They were both in a great mood and while they had decided to head home and just check in with Henry and Ray later, Jasper wasn't ready to end the night with her.

"Wanna go to the park?" He wondered.

"Why, so you can poop on the playground?" She asked and laughed at his annoyed face. "It's getting late. I should be getting home." He nodded, but he looked sad. She felt bad and sighed, "Okay. We can go to the park for a little while! But, I do have to get home right after that!"

They headed to the park, swung while they chatted, and played on the carousel. They were laying down on it, spinning slower now and looking up at the stars. "Okay, so, earlier you made a joke about marrying rich."

"Wasn't joking. I've always planned on having money someday. Seeing Joss's gifts just solidified my desire to have nice things. Whether I get them for myself or someone gets them for me."

"What else kind of husband you want?"

Charlotte wasn't sure why they were discussing this, but she wasn't thinking too deeply into it, either. "Other than rich? The usual, I guess. Smart, handsome, funny, brave."

"Do guys come with all of that in one package?" He asked, intimidated by the long list of advantages.

"Everyone has the potential. If I can't meet him that way, I'll _make _him that way." She laughed. "Of course, this is hypothetical. I'm kinda the least fun person I've ever known. Getting someone to put up with me will be a challenge, much more getting someone to stick around."

"Anybody lucky enough to win you over, better be aware enough to do whatever it takes to keep you."

She smiled, "Most guys that I encounter do not see me that way. You know it. Even in the Man Cave, I'm always at the butt of some joke. Nobody appreciates me, and whenever I happen to be right or accomplish something, everyone downgrades my efforts and insinuates that I'm either a show off or that I'm boring. It's downright aggravating at times. It's definitely affected my professional attitude and my work ethic when I'm there. Sometimes, I don't even care about the job, anymore."

Jasper sat up and looked at her laying down in the moonlight. "Not everyone thinks and acts that way, though. I don't recall ever doing that to you. Do I not count or something?"

She sat up too and said, "Of course you count, and I didn't mean _everyone. _But, it does feel like that sometimes."

"Funny you should say that, because I feel similar. It often feels like everybody thinks that I'm stupid or useless. Everybody in the Man Cave has an actual purpose and contribution, then here I come, there to either get blasted by Ray just for existing, or to have you snap at me for communicating things too slowly."

She winced and asked, "But… I've gotten better about that, right? I mean… lately I've felt like I've become nicer to you." She really had been trying to, at least.

"You have. It's never really bothered me before. I only mentioned it now, because I didn't want you to feel isolated. We all get our fair share of flack at work, I think. Sometimes, an unfair share. But, that's probably how it is on every job. People are always complaining about their jobs."

"You've got a point." She looked at her phone and said, "And on that note, I really gotta get home." He nodded, climbed off of the carousel, stopped it from spinning, and extended a hand to help her up.

Whenever they reached her house, she commented, "Thanks for the Gherkin bag. You were pretty awesome tonight."

He blushed, "You were awesome too. I saw you pull a fast one on Piper for Henry."

Now, it was her turn to blush. "I didn't even realize that you were paying attention."

"I always pay attention to you…" Her eyes widened and he backed away slowly. "Well, goodnight. See you at work tomorrow."

"Yeah. Night." He walked off humming the James Bond theme song to himself, happily. Charlotte smiled at his exiting form before going inside, confused. Highly confused and a little bit scared. What the heck was Jasper doing to her?


	5. Stepping Back

Stepping Back

Things had been going pretty well. But, well… You know… Sometimes, things happen and the ugly comes out of us all. And, well… That massage chair… It did something to them, to him. Jasper wanted it. He couldn't think of anything that he had ever wanted more in his entire life. Charlotte learned that the hard way.

"Well, Henry missed his turn. We know what that means," she said, heading for the chair.

Jasper cut her off and suggested, "That means it's my turn."

She cocked her head back and looked him up and down, "How do you figure?"

"Because you've been in it and I haven't!"

"I outsmarted you and you helped Henry forcibly remove me!"

"I was under pressure!"

She smiled and adjusted the collar of his shirt, "I get that, I understand pressure. That's why I need to experience the chair, right now. Don't I deserve to?"

Jasper smiled, and almost agreed, but then something occurred to him, "Wait a minute! Are you using my feelings against me? You're taking advantage of my big heart!"

"I could have done worst," she said, backing away a little, and rolling her eyes.

"I can't imagine that you could."

She pulled out her laser, "Well, I can. Step back, Jasper. Don't make this uglier than it has to be."

He pulled his out too, now. "It pains me that it's come to this Charlotte…"

"It doesn't pain me. But, if you keep going near that chair; it'll pain you…"

Honestly, things went wild.

Whenever Ray pit them against each other in the challenge, she had to admit that if he wasn't competing against her, she would have admired Jasper's tenacity. He was in the freakin' lead! He was seriously dusting her and Henry. The guy had nothing to lose, apparently, because the death snake was an automatic no for her and Henry, but fortunately, none of the other events were nearly as dangerous. Schwoz offered him an antidote for the venom, but the side effects were severe sickness and possible blackouts. He didn't want to blackout, so he held off on the antidote and put it in his pocket, in case of near death. While that was completely insane, Charlotte couldn't resist being impressed by his sheer will to win. She was also impressed by him in a tight body suit throwing a huge bag, but she wasn't gonna tell anybody that one! Then, he had the audacity to hit a few manly poses. Who the heck did he think he was? She wondered, checking him out. Jasper had levels that she absolutely wanted to investigate further… you know, some time after this stupid competition. This stupid competition that none of them wound up even winning!

They would have done it all over again, but Jasper looked deeply ill and Charlotte forced him to finally take that antidote. Having him in that condition, she felt guilty about proceeding herself, and said, "Guess it's all you, Hen." She had an arm around Jasper to help him walk and said, "I know that your house is closer, but I think you should come to mine, in case you have side effects from the antidote and need assistance."

"You can come to my house, for a change," he said, slurred.

"No. Your mom is there," she said and grabbed the handles of the Hart's wheelbarrow. They wouldn't miss it for a night.

"Yeah, and she's always gonna be…"

"Sit in the barrow," she ordered. He frowned. "It'll be uncomfortable, but you literally battled a death snake today. I think that you can handle it." He sat down and she pushed.

"I feel like I should clarify something. I opened up to you about some things and I didn't really expound. I love my mom. She's not perfect. She hasn't always done the right thing, but she's my mom. I'm not trying to leave her behind or even escape from her. Most importantly, she's not trash, to me." Jasper couldn't seem to stop himself from talking. He felt like maybe either the venom or the medicine had his inhibitions down.

Charlotte nodded her head as she struggled to push his weight forward, "I never should have said that. I'm sorry. I just think about you being neglected and traumatized and I hate that. As your friend, I hate that someone has the power to harm you without opposition..." Jasper blacked out. "Okay… Great." She was a little glad that the conversation was over and hopefully, he wouldn't even remember it. He was kind of out of it whenever he began talking.

But, as she neared her walkway, he started talking again, like there hadn't even been a break! "I didn't tell you about my mom as an attack on her or to take away anything from her. I said it for growth and because I trust you. I defend you when she says things about you and I'm gonna defend her when you say things about her. She's my family, and you're my friend. I can't do life without either of you." How the heck did he just resume things after a blackout?

She helped him out of the wheelbarrow and told him, "You won't have to do it without me. Sorry if I hurt your feelings."

She reached up to hug Jasper and of course, he was accepting of that gesture. He held tightly and admitted into her soft skin, "There's nothing in the world that I wouldn't forgive you for." She let out a breathy whimper and melted against him. He rubbed his face against her jaw and squeezed tightly, realizing that her shirt had ridden up a little and he was touching her actual skin on her waist. She didn't have those handles there, just tight, firm, smooth skin. She was skinny, and he guessed he'd imagined that meant she might be hard to the touch, but it was the opposite. She was extremely supple and delicate. He accidentally let out a moan and within the heartbeat, Charlotte gently broke contact with him, gave him a friendly grin and patted him on the chest.

"Let's get you inside."

.

Jasper used her bathroom and changed into his tight suit, because he'd kept it and she couldn't get any of her dad's clothes without notice tonight. She stayed outside of the room to make sure that he didn't pass out or something, then helped him into bed and spent some quality time in the bathroom herself. Her body was aching from having things thrown at her, falling onto a pile of her friends, and just general shenanigans. Wtf were they thinking earlier? All three of them had lost their everloving minds over a chair! But, if that last challenge wasn't so open and ridiculous, Jasper would have won. Good on him. Jasper wasn't a huge winner, but she appreciated seeing that inside of him. It was kinda hot.

She came out of the bathroom, clean and somewhat relaxed, moisturized, with her hair set, and… Jasper was in her bed. She sighed. From the way he was positioned, he probably blacked out again. She adjusted his body to where he was laying comfortably and helped to get him under the covers. He was much heavier than Henry the few times she tried to move him. Jasper was thicker and more solid. "Thicka than a snicka," she said and giggled to herself.

"Thank you," he mumbled and she dropped the cover and clutched her heart. She leaned to try to see if he was awake and he turned over. Thank God. How mortifying that could have been! "Charlotte?"

"Huh?" she asked, keeping her distance. But, he didn't say anything. He must've been talking in his sleep. She set the room right, air, diffuser, night sounds, lights… She looked at the spare bed and the beds were identical, but this one was slept in less. She went to lock her bedroom door, in case her mom cheerfully came to wake her for breakfast or something and she climbed into her own bed, justifying it because it was hers and it wasn't like she was gonna take advantage of him or something! She settled in. This was weird. Maybe she should get in the spare, instead. Yeah, this wasn't right… Jasper's arm wrapped around her and pulled her closer to him. This… was right. This was good. It was nice. She was asleep within moments and whenever she woke up, still there, she smiled. Jasper was snoring, but she guessed she missed it with the bear hug, the night sounds, and general tiredness. Maybe she had just gotten a little used to it because he slept over a lot lately.

She was probably laying there for a good half hour before he woke up and jumped up, kinda startled, apologizing. "I must've wandered here from the bathroom or something!"

"Hey. It's fine. You blacked out on my bed and I didn't want to sleep in the spare. It's all good, Relax." He sighed, relieved, but then got up and grabbed his clothes from the night before. "Jasper…"

"I don't think that I told my mom I'd be out. She's gonna flip!"

Charlotte checked her phone and said, "She called Henry last night and he told her that you were sleeping over and had already fallen asleep. He even added, 'Charlotte's not here, though,' for good measure." She climbed out of bed and he watched her turn off her various devices. "He had your back."

Jasper didn't comment on the emphasis that she had put on "your." But, maybe Charlotte and Henry were fighting or something? He nodded and said, "I'll just put these on over this." He began to get into his old clothes and she snatched her phone, grabbed a hanger with an outfit on it and went into the bathroom.

Henry: Heads up! Jasper's mom called late last night to see if he was here. I covered for you. Said that he was here but already asleep and it was just us guys. Dude… Whatever you're doing with Jasper, I hope you realize that he's sensitive, okay? So, I mean, it'd be cute, if I thought you were actually into him, but we both know that's not the case. Be careful with him.

She fumed and snatched off her pajamas.

Charlotte: Wow. Okay. That's all fine and well, but I don't recall asking you. For your information, Jasper and I are just friends and if we weren't, it wouldn't be any of your business, tbh.

Henry was almost ready for work whenever he got Charlotte's response and he was taken aback by it, to stay the least.

Henry: Why are you being so salty? Are you actually catching feelings for him? Because, I just can't imagine it. But, if I'm wrong and you're gonna do right by him, then congrats. If not, it's kind of my duty to make sure everyone is okay…

Charlotte: It's really not. It's not your business. If I like Jasper or not, that's between Jasper and I. The way that you automatically assumed that I wouldn't even like Jasper is indicative of how YOU perceive him, not me. Stop projecting. You think that Jasper's not good enough, so you're saying I'm not going to see anything in him and that's insulting to both of us.

Henry: That's not what I meant. I meant that you're very conceited about a lot of stuff and so I didn't think you'd see Jasper for the good guy that he is.

Charlotte: Maybe I should show him this conversation and see how he sees it.

Henry: Quit! Call me.

Charlotte: No.

She didn't show Jasper, and she didn't keep.arguing with Henry. But, she did take a step back from Jasper. Because… what if Henry was right? Who knew her better than he did? What if she needed to reassess and be realistic? What if realistically… that would never work? Then, she might hurt Jasper and at this point, she wasn't willing to do that. Not this way. So, she tried to just go back to normal. Just… let things be. Hopefully, that was the right thing to do. For everyone.


	6. Dust Yourself Off & Try Again

_**A/N: **__So, I FINALLY figured out what I wanted to call A Chasper Fic. It's gonna be called "Determined." Also, I'm going to go ahead and begin a masterlist post for the chapters. Lastly, because my storytelling is traveling faster than the episodes, the story is only gonna be canon up to the musical episode. Everything from here on out gets to be 100% fabricated, but I'll still try to be as realistic and responsible with the story as possible. Thanks for reading._

**Dust Yourself Off & Try Again**

They stopped by the bakery on their way to Junk N Stuff. Jasper ordered a box of donuts for everyone. She just grabbed a green tea smoothie. He tried to get it put on his ticket, but she was so adamant that he gave up. Must've been her fight with Henry that put her in such a bad mood. Now, he was feeling a way too. Why was Henry able to affect her this much? Did she have feelings for him? Was it a lovers' quarrel? Honestly, she _had been _having dreams about Henry, not him. But, by the time Jasper found that out, he had already tethered emotional importance to winning Charlotte's heart. He wondered if the idea of her and Henry would always be in the back of his mind. Or worse.. the back of her mind.

They arrived and Henry approached only to be met with Charlotte's hand halting him. "Don't," was all she said and all she _had _to say. He noticed the seriousness in her face, swiftly turned, and left her alone. Jasper sighed and went to find his change of clothes. They kept some there in case things got messy and inexplicable to their families. He kept the most, as he generally had the most incidents somehow.

Whenever he got back, Charlotte was gone. "Where's Char?"

"Went home sick," Henry said.

"Oh. Okay." Jasper messaged her. _Heard you're not feeling well. Hopefully that changes soon. Let me know if you need anything. _

To Henry, he wondered, "What happened between you two this morning?"

Henry looked up from his phone and asked, "Hmm?"

"She was in a bad mood all morning and I know that it wasn't because of me… At least I hope it wasn't."

Henry waved a hand and said, "Yeah… she got all bent out of shape because I was looking out for you." Jasper furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head. "Come on, Dude. I know that you said you didn't like her like that or whatever, but in the past few weeks it's been obvious that you were lying. You like her. You know it. I know it. She knows it. And, I just wanted to make sure that she doesn't take advantage of that. She doesn't get a lot of attention and I wanted to make sure that you stay safe through this phase."

Jasper folded his arms and raised both eyebrows. "Okay. As you know, I sometimes get lost in a lot of information. It sounded like you said that you saw that I liked Charlotte and decided to defend me to her, despite the fact that she hasn't done anything to make you defensive of me. Is that about it?" Jasper sounded… mad. Henry was a little bit thrown off by how much.

"When you say it like that, you make me feel bad," Henry said.

Jasper took a deep breath and and said, "I'm gonna man the store."

"Jasper, are you mad?"

"A little bit, Henry!" He snapped. Sounded like a lotta bit, but.. "I don't understand why you thought that was okay."

"Because we're all friends?"

Jasper nodded and said, "Well, you were a great friend to us today." It was clearly sarcastic. Henry made a face, but Jasper didn't see it. He was already headed to the elevator. Charlotte had texted him back.

_Charlotte: Dude, I'm fine. Chill out. Lol. TTYL._

He read it multiple times. It felt like old Charlotte. Like, before he was trying to impress her… before she was impressed. He didn't want to say that he talked to Henry about her, because he wasn't sure if that would help or not.

So, he simply replied: _Don't mean to be so pushy. I just care about you. I also trust you. I wanted to let you know that. I'll give you some space to feel better. _

Charlotte read Jasper's text and felt bad. He definitely noticed her tone. She could tell from that "I trust you," that he also probably talked to Henry about their disagreement. But, he was giving her space and that was what she honestly needed at the moment.

That was what they were still having whenever Frankini placed a musical curse over Swellview…

.

What an adventure!

"Honestly, it wasn't all that bad. You have a really pretty singing voice," Jasper said. "And I'm not just saying that to get something out of you."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Good. Because _that _would be manipulative."

"It certainly would!" He said and tried to change the subject. They only talked for a little while, and she eventually went home by herself, again. Charlotte had gotten pretty good at successfully not spending any time alone with Jasper since her revelation that maybe it wasn't a good idea to… well… to give him ideas about them. If they were ever alone, it was at work, and she quickly got Henry or Schwoz into the fold. Jasper wasn't necessarily deterred by this; because he blamed Henry and his big mouth for her even reacting this way. However, he also didn't want to be the creepy guy who couldn't take a hint, like he was doing with Patina whenever she was purposefully avoiding him.

So, he tried to wait and watch for a natural opening where he could slide in and maybe convince her that whatever she was worried about, she didn't have to be. His birthday recently passed, and she'd given him a backpack with a bucket in it, and one of those fun popup birthday cards with a cowboys on horses theme. He was super excited about it. He tried to be cool, but, "A bucket? AND a backpack? A BACKPACK WITH A BUCKET INSIDE?"

"I know that you aren't as into buckets as you used to be, but I also know that you're never gonna get rid of the buckets that you did collect over the years and that you don't have one like this," she said.

The guys had done all this extra stuff to try to impress and spoil Jasper, but he was most excited about this simple gift from Charlotte. Ray was a little bit insulted, to be honest. "Jasper, do you even realize the time, energy, effort, and money that went into getting someone as strange as yourself a perfect gift?"

Charlotte commented, "He idolizes you. You could have gotten him shoelaces and he would have been happy."

"SHOELACES?" Jasper asked, super excited about the possibility.

"Nobody got you shoelaces," Charlotte added. He sank in his seat, hugging his bucket in a backpack. "I'm just saying that Ray spent $300,000 on a painting and $90,000 on a spotlight that he only used, like, once. I doubt that money is an object or that a lot of decision-making goes into his decisions. But, that's a really cool… What is this?"

"It's the Potty Perfector 900!" Ray said. "It works as a light, a seat warmer, and has interesting facts and stories to tell when you're stuck on the pot!"

"That is one of the most amazing things ever invented!" Jasper said and steadied his backpack between his knees so that he could study the Potty Perfector 900 box.

"See, Charlotte? Whenever you put some THOUGHT into things, it shows how much you care about a person," Ray said.

Charlotte nodded, "Thank _you, of all people, _for that life lesson. So… What'd you write on Jasper's card?"

"Card? He's got an amazing gift. That says it all."

"Oh, okay," She said.

"Why? Did you write something on a card?" Ray wondered.  
"I did." She smiled and finally left the conversation, with a tousle of Jasper's hair and a "Birthday boy!" cheer. He nearly lost his breath when she touched him, but it was over before he knew it, and she was out of the picture. He held his Potty Perfector 900 in and embrace and watched her walk to the elevator.

"She's amazing," Jasper mused.

Ray laughed and said, "Good one! Guess somebody got you a sense of humor for your birthday."

Jasper rolled his eyes and set down his present, to go back to Charlotte's present. Turned out that not only was there a bucket in the backpack, but in each little compartment of the backpack, she hid small trinkets and treats that she knew he would like. One of them was the birthday card, with her message insert.

_Jasper,_

_It's a special time of year, to me. Whenever your birthday comes around, it's summer and we're already feeling great and enjoying life. But, this year, it was even more special to me. Not only have you finally (technically) become a man, but you and I got even closer this summer than we've ever been in all of the years that we've been friends. I've learned things about you that make me so proud to be someone that you call a friend and I can't wait to experience even more with you. One thing that I've been thinking about is your confession that your middle name is TBD, because your parents never got around to granting you an actual middle name. But, the thing that I've been thinking about is how funny it is that the name TBD worked out for you. _

"_To Be Determined" was meant as an uncertain placeholder, but turned out to be a prophecy. Because, Jasper Dunlop, you are one of the most determined people that I've ever known. Whenever you set your mind to something, you practically kill yourself trying to see it through. You never worry about what people will think of you or how you'll look when you set out to do whatever it is that's on your heart to do. Your middle name might be TBD, but you, Jasper, are actually quite determined. And that's why I love you. You're strong, resilient, and steadfast. You're a pillar in my life and I'm glad to wish you another year. Hopefully we have many more together. _

_Happy Birthday, Jasper._

_Love Always, _

_Your Friend, Charlotte._

_._

Charlotte's parents were out and she was off, so walking around the house in a sleepwear short set with fuzzy unicorn slippers and a ponypuff as she prepared for bed was all she had plans to do. Whenever there was a knock and a doorbell ring, her first thought was that it was Jasper. But, why would he be there? She went to the peephole and gasped. It WAS Jasper!

She rushed around, trying to maybe change or something, but her room was way across the house and even if she got there, she wouldn't have been able to change quickly, and… Jasper put his face up to the window and said, "Charlotte, I see you! Open the door!"

She rolled her eyes and did just that. She opened the door and feigned happiness, "Jasper! I… wasn't expecting company."

"Right. You look so silly right now," he said, laughing. "No biggie. I came by to give you something." He opened his backpack as he explained, "One of my birthday presents was a gift card to Asking for Truffle, so I bought a gift box of some flavors I thought you might like."

He handed her a box that looked a little bit like a treasure chest. "There's a white chocolate lemon cream, creme brulee, of course, peaches and champagne, pecan praline pie…"

She opened the box to see gold foil wrapped truffles and a little card that read: For Charlotte. "Jasper, you're not supposed to be spending your gift cards on somebody else."

"I know. But, you should be getting spoiled and how often am I in a position to do so?"

She shook her head and tried to hand it back, but he stepped back, out of reach. "Nope. I ordered it for you. No take backsies. Also, you look adorable. I was just picking, earlier."

"Jasper…"

"Thanks for the card. It was powerful."

"Okay. Thanks for the… Expensive truffles they were supposed to be for you." Her fave was so damn warm, and when he smiled, it got even warmer. By the time he left, she was speechless. Apparently, her stepping back and bringing things back to normal didn't stick. That boy really was determined.


	7. Feeding the Monster

_Well, I'ma be real with y'all. I haven't made any new white friends in ages, lost many of the associates that I once had in recent years and honestly have like 2-4 in my life that I'm comfortable with on a genuine friendship level. But. a lot of young people tell me about how disappointed they wind up when they first recognize that their friends don't get their identities. Growing up in SETX, in a city surrounded by hick towns with active Klan my entire lifetime, none of the "racial climate" of America is new to me or mine. But, I do realize that in some places, people somehow never witness or experience a racially motivated situation early in life. I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse. To be honest, it's so normal where I'm from, I don't know what the attitude might be for people who have only managed to get dosages of it in "Trump's America." Regardless… I wanted to do this sort of Charlotte-centric racial piece and ultimately decided that A Chasper Fic was where I would put it. Though, it could easily be a standalone with Chasper shipping. Anywho, TW for racial discrimination, harassment and racial isolation. I know that affects a lot of folk and don't want too much heartache._

**Feeding the Monster**

Most people don't know Charlotte. That's one of the world's greatest gags, in her opinion. She was always straightforward. She's never been dishonest or fake. She may not always speak her mind, as she didn't always find that necessary and some people simply weren't worth her energy. But, even being as genuine and authentic as she had always been… people didn't really know her. People _thought _that they knew her. She was often a subject of conversation. Whether she was thought of as a booksmart nerd with no friends, or a pretty girl who probably was stuck up and that's why she had no friends.. Charlotte was aware of the mystery surrounding her.

Even her two best friends didn't get all of what there was there. They knew her habits and hobbies, but neither of them ever really knew her hardships. They never noticed and they never asked. It didn't surprise her. Neither was observant and that wound up being her role in their lives a lot of the time. But, she strongly believed that if she sometimes shared her issues, they would most likely have her back. Why trouble anybody with anything they'd never really have to deal with, though?

That gave her hardships too much power. She didn't ignore her problems. But, she liked to handle them in her own way and time, if it was worth either. Sometimes… things didn't go as planned, though.

.

Her parents didn't discuss it, unless of course it couldn't be avoided, but Charlotte knew early on that there was a difference between herself and most of the Swellview kids.

They didn't seem to have the haircare concerns that she did. Their skincare routines seemed vastly different. Whenever they watched TV and movies - they saw themselves in the characters and in public personas. Whenever she watched the same programs, she saw her surroundings, not her reflection.

It wasn't an issue that she was necessarily conscious of. She simply knew. She knew that different spaces held different volumes of viewable types. For instance, at a family gathering she knew she'd see perhaps sixty similar viewable types. But, at a school gathering she knew that she would probably only see six. That was simply a thing that she knew, like the sky is blue and 2+2.

As she got older, more tech savvy and reliant on the Internet; the differences became clearer. Not in the way that _she _felt some type of way about being different and her reflection being a minority… but she noticed that many of those souls in her surroundings felt a way about it.

Now, her two friends - they didn't really see it. She had been friends with both of them long enough to gather that much. They couldn't hear the dog whistle terminology or feel the aura when some bias was directed towards her. She would be annoyed by it at times, but mostly, she tried not to let the ignorance of others interfere with her day.

Whenever the ignorance triggered hatred, she'd sometimes gain an enemy. They might start a battle and she would feel like the one with the power to pick and choose those. She wasn't used to anyone else joining her, especially when she wasn't choosing to battle…

"It was dangerous. For all you know, the man is a psychopath and capable of killing you!" She fussed at Jasper, pulling him into the Man Cave by the elbow and carrying both of their bags. Henry looked up at the sound of her fussing, expecting to see Jasper with egg on his face or something. Instead, he saw blood.

"Whoa! What is happening? Who did that to Jasper? Tell me it was a wild animal!" He said, with his hand at the ready to grab his tube of gumballs.

"He fought like a wild animal, but trust me - the other guys were in way worse shape." She sat Jasper down, dropped their things and went to the auto snacker, "Three bags of ice." Henry fished for more details as she retrieved the first aid kit.

"Okay. I know I made you mad once and you socked me with a slab of meat, but THIS is way different. What the butt happened?"

"Some dude attacked Charlotte!" Jasper said while she was putting ice on his busted fists.

"WHAT?" Henry _did _have his tube of gum now and was pouring one into his hand.

Charlotte offered, "Trust me, for now the crisis has come to a halt."

Jasper went on, "He was following her and screaming obscenities when I walked up, and I heard him call her the worst thing that I've ever actually heard in my entire life."

"What did he say?" Henry asked, with the gumball at his lips.

Charlotte snatched it away from him and resumed tending to a cut above Jasper's left eye, "I don't need two of you busted up. That fight could have easily been avoided. The guy was probably not gonna touch me and I was recording him with my phone, in case it escalated beyond the yelling and I would have just pressed charges. But Jasper comes along and immediately takes a swing at the guy, and nearly got murked by he and his friend!" She addressed his jaw next, with trembling hands. "Somebody like that is just looking for a fight. You don't GIVE it to them. You let them do their thing, then you either make them famous on the Internet, or if you're me, you show them they're irrelevant by not feeding the monster." She was shaken up as she placed a bag of ice on his jaw. "What if they had weapons? You could have been seriously hurt. I could've seen my friend killed over a few slurs."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't think about that when I heard him. That's revolting. Who says things like that to someone?"

She stroked his hair and shrugged her shoulders. "It happens."

He leaned into her touch, "I know, but it shouldn't and you shouldn't have had to have it happen to you. Weren't you upset or angry or something?" Henry felt like he was witnessing some intimate moment, but was too concerned to dismiss himself.

Charlotte admitted, "I was furious and terrified. I usually am. But, I pick my battles and some bulky guy with a friend is not someone I felt like I should engage. You should've followed my lead."

Jasper pulled the ice from his face and said, "You _usually _are? How often has this happened to you?" He was horrified by the thought of it happening even once!

She shrugged her shoulders, but tears were trying to come out of her face. "You know, the first time I heard that word , I was 7, and by the time I stopped counting the times, I was 14 and had been referred to as something like that about a dozen times. The past few years, it's increased and people are more vicious about it. Like that guy… That's the 3rd time something like that happened this year."

"WHAT?" Jasper cried out.

She shook her head and said, "Google it or something. I don't want to talk about it." She left to go pull herself together and Jasper put the ice back on his face.

"She's not upset that you fought him. She's embarrassed that you saw her go through something that sounds terrible. She doesn't like to look weak and stuff." Henry said and sat down. "So.. that dude. He said.. you know THE word. N word?"

"An N one followed by a B one," Jasper said, clenching his fist.

"_Anybody_ would have punched him in the face."

"No. Not if it happens a lot and we didn't even know. We would have heard that someone punched somebody in the face for that, right?"

"Maybe. We're just now hearing how often it happens to her."

"I feel sick. How does this happen and she just… I don't know… Deals with it?"

"Same way you deal with your personal things," she said, coming back and forcing him to put the ice back on his jaw. "Speaking of.. your mom is gonna lose it when she sees this." She sighed, dreading the thought of what she might say to him about it. "Tell her you were defending Henry. She likes him."

Jasper put the ice aside and pulled her to himself to give her a hug. "I'm sorry that this is… frequent for you. And I'm sorry in advance… because if I'm ever there and that happens, I'm always gonna fight for you."

"I also will be fighting over this," Henry said, lifting a finger in the air.

She pulled away from Jasper's hug with an escaped tear and a chuckle. "Well, you're both idiots," she said and walked off. But, there was something soothing about their declaration. It was almost like they finally got everything that there was there with her.

"Dude. I don't want to be the guy who flip flops on issues, but I'm relatively sure that you just bagged your girl," Henry said.

"You're joking. She's furious with me."

"She's furious that you got hurt over something that she's (sadly) gotten used to living with. I don't know anybody alive that's not turned on by someone else jumping in front of danger for them. I say this from experience of being a hero. You are in there, Jasp."

Jasper fought off a smile. It hurt his jaw. "I didn't do it for that. It was just a reflex. I'm not gonna use this as my plot to get her. That seems gauche. I just… really want her to feel like we're here for her when she gets treated like that." Jasper was thinking about what she'd said earlier. Him dealing with his mom was vastly different from having strangers accost you on the sidewalk just for existing.

Ray came in and shook his head, "Who'd you tick off this time, Jasper?"

"Char says he won the fight," Henry told him.

Ray smiled, "Oh yeah? Against who? Some kid?"

"Dude was trying to hurt Charlotte…"

Ray reached for his gumball tube, "Oh, really? She get a piece of him too?"

Henry shook his head. "She seemed really scared, Dude. Apparently people say racist stuff to her a lot?"

"WHAT?" Ray said, throwing gum into his mouth.

"She doesn't want us to go after him… But, Jasper, if we happen to see him or his friend somewhere, just signal and it's on."

"If I see him, I'm actually going to dropkick him in the chest, both feet, on sight." Jasper said.

"That'll be the signal then," Henry said and fist bumped him.

Jasper winced, shook his fist and put it back into the ice. "You… really think this will make Charlotte see me differently?"

Henry quickly said, "Dude, you got your jaw rocked. We all see you differently right now."

Ray followed up with, "I see you differently, Jasper. Respect." He raised his fist and Jasper bumped it and powered through the pain. It was worth it.

Charlotte returned and changed Jasper ice out, then looked at all of them suspiciously. "What are you three up to?"

"Male bonding."

She rolled her eyes and said, "Well, take it easy on this one. He's had enough adventure for a while." Then, she strummed Jasper's hair again and gave him a smile before heading back to the store. All three of them waited until she was on the elevator to respond happily to that little gesture.


	8. Am I Dreaming?

**Am I Dreaming?**

Charlotte could hardly believe that, "Of all the people in this world, my Uncle Roscoe is actually getting married. I honestly can't even imagine it."

"Uncle Rox is getting married?" Jasper asked.

"To whom?" Henry followed up with.

"They met at the Couch Potatoes Cafe," she told them. They went in to sit and order and both selected the same couch at the same time and decided to share it.

"Awwww," Jasper cooed.

Meanwhile, Henry joked, "And now they'll live forever and ever on somebody's couch together."

"I think she's got a place of her own. I haven't met her, but the wedding is this weekend, so I've got to get out of work to go."

"I wanna come! I love weddings. I love Uncle Rox. This is like a perfect event." Jasper said.

"Yeah, sure. You want in, Hen? If for nothing else just to see who is marrying my uncle?"

"I actually am morbidly curious."

"There should still be those tuxedo gumballs in the Man Cave."

"Naw. Those taste like butt," Henry said.

"Right. Schwoz did put some butt in there," she told him.

"Ewww. Gross!" Henry declared.

Jasper submitted, "Who's butt did he put in? Butt tastes good if done right."

"Done right?" Henry asked. Charlotte was simply equal parts horrified and mortified.

"You know, hygienically and genetically. Like…" he glanced at Charlotte, then at the ground and said, "If they're well put together and take care of themselves, it's a treat for all."

"That's quite enough on that subject," Charlotte said.

"I have additional questions later," Henry told him.

.

Whenever the guys met at Charlotte's house, Jasper said, "I made you a corsage."

And Henry chimed in, "I picked out the flowers."

She gave them both looks, withheld calling them idiots and instead informed them, "You guys know that we're guests at a wedding, not the prom, right?"

Henry rolled his eyes and said "Jasper will do the honors…"

But, she snatched it, set it down and said, "I'm not wearing that. Let's go."

Henry gave Jasper a pat on the back as he grabbed the corsage. "I'LL wear it, Dude." And he did.

When they were seated in their seats and everybody stood up for the bride, Charlotte gasped and Henry stared, speechlessly as Nurse Cohort came walking in, wearing a bridal gown. "HEY! Look who it is!" Jasper said. "Uncle Rox has great taste."

Henry whispered to him, "She's a villain and an enemy and she's about to be married into Char's family."

"A hot villain," Jasper corrected.

"Obviously," Henry agreed. Charlotte was still just staring, glad that the woman didn't remember or recognize her as she met with Uncle Roscoe at the altar.

Whenever the officiator asked if anyone had any objections, Charlotte's nervous foot syndrome was in overdrive. She should definitely say something, right? Point out to everyone that the woman is a known villainess and enemy of Swellview, yeah? She didn't have to.

Dr. Minyak came bursting through both double doors with the loud announcement, "I have an objection!"

Now… Charlotte had no idea if this was _better. _Henry, on the other hand commented, "Well, this just got interesting."

"Interesting is definitely a word," Charlotte said.

Minyak went on to ask, "Who is this man and for what reason are you marrying him?"

"Newsflash, Horatio. That will they/won't they you made up in your head? A resounding they won't! Now, leave. Before my husband to be takes you outside."

"But I ask, again, who he is!"

"He's Roscoe. A simple man who doesn't ask for much and lets me run the show. Roscoe, Dear?"

Uncle Roscoe nodded and picked Dr. Minyak up. He used to be a bouncer and he bounced him right out of the building before the ceremony proceeded. "Well… maybe she's not going to be doing evil anymore now that Dr. Minyak is clearly out of her life," Charlotte said, hopefully.

"WOOOWOOOO! GREAT JOB, UNCLE ROX!" Jasper called out.

Charlotte had no clue why Jasper was such a huge fan of her uncle, but simply asked him, "Can you calm down over there?"

"I told you, I love weddings and this one had an action/adventure element to it!" She rolled her eyes.

Henry said, "Hey. It'll be okay. If she's up to no good, we'll stop her before she can harm or taint him." She nodded and he beckoned her closer, "But what's the deal with you and," he gestured his head towards Jasper, who was pointing his phone to record and said as he did, "Uncle Rox, you're doing great, Sweetie."

"What do you mean, what's the deal? You told me to back off and I backed off," she said.

"I mean… I told you to back off if you didn't really want him, but things seem different for you these days. Like, you like him."

"Well, if I do, it doesn't matter if I can't treat him how he deserves. You pretty much made the decision for me. Are you backpedaling, now?"

"No! Not backpedaling. Just… seeing if YOU'VE changed since our last chat. You like him?" She folded her arms. "He likes you. Like, he loves you."

"Hen… Has Jasper said something about me?"

"Kinda got mad whenever I inserted myself last time. But, last report I have him was that you're definitely on the same page. Should I recant?"

"I'll talk to him later."

"Good, I don't know WHAT to say. But, if you're still… Just… Let him down easy, though.

"I said I'LL talk to him."

"LET HIM DOWN EASY THOUGH!"

Jasper and a few guests looked at the two of them and Charlotte panicked and said, "He has tourettes."

"Insensitive and ableist," Henry commented.

She told him, through her teeth, "This is no longer your business. Thanks though." The last time she listened to him, he made her rethink every emotion and observation that she had about Jasper. Now, he was essentially saying that she should have just followed her first mind anyway! Which.. now she wasn't sure was correct. If she had let the advice of Henry move her, maybe it was because deep down, some part of her agreed with his doubts.

.

At the reception, she asked him to dance, "But, you hate dancing." She furrowed her eyebrows and he quickly hopped to it, "And yet, you're gonna bless me with a dance!"

She took him to the floor and started to sway in his arms as the Ol School ft XScape & Keith Sweat Am I Dreaming remake came on. Her uncle and new aunt were singing to each other nearby and she laughed a little bit, but got right to business, "You know… I'm not interested in romance and coupling. That stuff is like one of those things that I think I might one day get bored after doing everything I needed and wanted to do and reluctantly give it a try. What about you?"

Jasper shrugged his shoulders and admitted, "I love love. I want a soul mate, wife, kids, pets, all in one house, no custody disputes or visitation rejections. No divorce. No different last names. Just a family that I built with my bare hands alongside a life partner."

"Cool. So, you know what you want and that means that you'll be more likely to go after that and only that with someone who also wants that." He knew what this was. She was finally addressing his interest in her and she was declining, as he could have guessed she might.

"Yeah. It's gonna be quite a find, if I ever find anybody that would even consider me that way."

"You will. I have faith in you."

"I do too. I believe in my dreams. But, maybe instead of having faith in me, have a little in yourself. How do you know that you won't want anyone until your life is over? Maybe you just haven't paid attention to the right person."

"Maybe. But, I'm not ready to start doing that for anybody. I've got goals and plans and I never factored in even the possibility of connecting before any of them are met. Plus… I don't even get… well… you know. I've been openly ace for like 3 years. Guys don't even want to be my friend when they find that out."

"Guys like that never wanted to be your friend in the first place then. If they truly did, they would be willing to try anything for you."

"What's there to try? I'm not quite as adventurous as you, what with your butt taste buds and all…"

He blushed. "I only meant that I'm not against trying it, with the right person."

"Here's the thing, Jasper. For you, the right person is kinda whoever you're into at the moment. We've spoken about this before. You get into somebody, and you're in love, hard and heavy until you're not. Then, you just move on. Any girl who knows you probably would never date you. What happens when you get bored with her? You just bounce."

"I… didn't realize that my actions could be read like that." He sighed, "Okay. It's not hard for me to fall in love and I put a lot into things, whenever I do. But, if it isn't working out, I might move on, but I'm also latched on a lot of the time. I don't get over it as easy as it looks. You have to remember who you're talking to. Just because I'm not whining doesn't mean I'm not pining." She stared at him and the song was ending. They pulled apart and he said, "But, I get what you mean. Somebody who's slow to jump and neutral with her response might need a little more evidence as to how badly I want her."

"Or. She might not be interested in any of that and just likes having her friend."

"Or that. Thanks, Char. You're always good with advice." _Even about yourself, _he guessed. He found Henry and wondered, "Ready to go?" Henry took one look at Jasper and knew which direction Charlotte had gone.

"Yeah. Did she at least let you down gently?"

Jasper bit his lip and nodded, "Like it hurt her to do it, but like it had to be done."

Henry sighed and wrapped an arm around him, sending Charlotte a text that they were going to head out. Outside, there was a girl waiting at the corner and she said, "Hey! Excuse me! Dr. Minyak stole my Uber and I'd just put my purse down in it. Can I catch a ride and pay you guys back? I promise, I'm good for it."

Even though they weren't about to order a car, Henry said, "Sure thing!" Jasper tried to decline and walk instead, but Henry practically forced him into the agreement. He didn't feel like being a wingman, but Henry did leave the party early for him, and the reception was always one of the best parts, because hot girls with marriage on the mind… So, he agreed and they waited with her for the car, sprinkled with small talk and heavy flirting.

.

After work, Charlotte and Henry met Jasper upstairs, in the store. He was on the phone, but still locked up with them. Whenever they got outside, Charlotte wondered, "Who in the world is he talking to?"

"I think her name is Emily or Honalee? We met her outside of the wedding."

"Amelie?"

"Yeah! That's it! I guess you know her?"

"Yeah. Uncle Roscoe dated her mom years ago and she still sorta sees him as a father figure."

"Which is ridiculous, because he is literally an oversized child," Henry said. They heard Jasper giggle on the phone and Charlotte shook her head. _Unbelievable. Just because I'm not whining doesn't mean I'm not pining. Yeah right. Pining for Amelie, who apparently was literally the first girl you saw after we parted ways! _

"You okay, Char?" Henry asked, sure that he knew exactly what her suddenly sour mood was about.

"Yeah. But, we've gotta vet her. I know that she's like family to Uncle Roscoe, but Uncle Roscoe isn't a great judge of character, and Jasper doesn't have a very good track record with selecting girls!"

"She seemed alright to me," Henry said.

"From the one car ride that you shared with her, when she was most likely being polite in order to appease the guys that just helped her get home?"

Henry rolled his eyes and wondered, "How do we figure out if this girl is good for him, or not?"

"Simple…" Charlotte invited Amelie over to hang out at her house with the three of them. Jasper thought it was weird, but didn't make a big deal of it. But, whenever they were all there, Char was acting weird. First, she kept asking Amelie pretty intense questions like, "What is it that you think that you might see in Jasper? Because, I've known him nearly half my life and only saw any appeal a very short time ago." Then, there were comments, "Well, I guess it's a good thing that you ran into Jasper and Henry, real regular heroes. Especially Jasper. Great guy, but don't let the dimples fool you. He's quite the heartbreaker."

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Jasper said, laughing, uncomfortably. "What is with you?"

Amelie said, "I'm sorry, Charlotte. I didn't realize that you and Jasper had history. I wouldn't date my cousin's ex!"

"I am not your cousin," Charlotte said at the same time that Jasper said "I'm not her ex." But, she heard it and tilted her head at him, "Maybe not, but let's be really honest about the circumstances in which you met this girl…" She didn't say anything else. She didn't have to. He met Amelie when he was leaving from being rejected by Charlotte and of course, if this DID go anywhere, it would definitely simply be some type of rebound.

"But, that doesn't mean that you should get to be rude to your guest," he told her. "Or, to me, for that matter. Why do you feel like you have the right to say anything about who I may or may not date?"

"Whoa oh," Henry said.

"I think I should go," Amelie said.

"No. I'LL go, since I'm the one making everybody uncomfortable," Charlotte said.

"YOU LIVE HERE!" Jasper snapped.

Charlotte got up and retired to her room. It was quiet for a while before Henry said, "Well, the chicken was just lovely." Jasper got up and stormed after Charlotte and Henry got up and tried to stop him. "Hey, Jasper, Buddy. Where ya goin'?"  
"She can't brush me off, then get mad whenever I'm trying to move on!"

"Okay. BUT, can she feel insecure about trusting you after you indirectly professed love, then started talking to another girl mere hours later?"

"NO! She didn't even want to give me a chance. She has no right."

"Can she actually be concerned that maybe, just maybe you're making a bad decision, since you do kinda have a track record for going all in after girls who turn out to be disasters." Jasper stopped. "I just don't think you getting mad is the best way to deal with whatever Char has going on in her head."

Jasper folded his arms and said, "I just want her to be real with me and say whatever she actually means. I want her to explain it to me like I'm stupid, because getting me to take a hint is clearly not working. The hint I took was that she wanted me to leave the thought of us behind completely. I even said that I was willing to work harder to prove myself and she told me not to!"

Charlotte appeared at the end of the hallway and said, "I can hear you, Jasper!"

"Good! Because we need to talk!" He complained.

She leaned against the wall and said, "Henry, can you go check on Amelie and maybe apologize to her? I'll call her to speak for myself in a little while." He nodded and reluctantly left them alone. Charlotte sighed and said, "You're right. It would be unfair of me to turn you down and get mad at you for moving on, but that's not what this is. I'm upset because, like Henry said, you seemed all about me, then suddenly, you were back into the same old habits. Amelie is cool, or whatever, but you know absolutely nothing about her! She could be a criminal. She could be a… Republican!" He leaned against the wall next to her. "Everybody gets concerned when you like a girl, because you've had not only bad luck, but bad judgment in that department. I'm the only one who will tell you, while Henry and the guys at work are content to let you look a fool, so long as you possibly get some action. I'm the person that usually has your best interest at heart."

"You're the person who makes me feel the worst about everything that's wrong with me!"

Now, she was really sad and slid down the wall to sit down on the floor, "I see. Sorry. You will not have to deal with it again. You can leave whenever you want."

He sat next to her. "It's not completely like that. I mean, you can be pretty harsh and don't really compliment me very much, but… I feel like I have to always be trying to be a better person with you and that gets to be heavy."

"I've never placed that responsibility on you, so how is this my fault?"

"It's not about fault, it's about… You like me right?"

She couldn't bare to look at him right now, because her emotions were all over the place and she didn't even like when her emotions were present, much less active, "You're one of my best friends. Of course I like you."

"That's not what I mean."

"Well I mean it."

"And you don't think we could ever be more than that, right? I mean… we like each other more than that. I don't understand why we can't act on it. You're the one who basically told me to get over it and move on. I didn't understand, but I tried to respect it, and now HERE we are."

"I think that if we did that, we'd be taking on a huge risk. Do you want to possibly ruin what we already have?" Her hands were so interesting, right now. She traced them with her fingertips, stretched and wiggled those digits, meanwhile studying them.

"No… but if we make it, the risk will have been worth it."

Finally, she looked at him. His optimism and dreamlike wonder was becoming such a problem and worst, she felt like he had a point. Jasper. He couldn't have a point. She had thought about this. She thought about everything. "Knowing yourself and knowing me… do you think that we'd make it? Honestly. One or both of us would have to go through a lot of changes, and even then, that would be two people we've created to make it work making it work, not necessarily who we are.."

"You're so smart."

She nodded her head and pointed to him, because finally, he got it. "And that's never going to change."

"Unfortunately for you, I'm not nearly as smart," Jasper said and moved in to kiss her. Now, she saw it coming and she knew that she strongly believed everything that she had just said, so the smart thing, the responsible thing would be to dodge his lips and get up and go. The thing that she did was lean forward to meet him in the middle, and wrapped her arms around him as she kissed him back.


	9. Pretty Brown Eyes

_Okay, so I'm about as old as the characters parents could be, maybe slightly younger, because they probably had them a little later in adulthood than I'm far off from them, but I figured, close enough to use MY childhood/youth music for Charlotte's mom's taste. At least the general timeline. I named songs and artists, if y'all wanna ever listen to any of it. I haven't/don't know if I'm making a Determined Soundtrack/Playlist._

**Pretty Brown Eyes**

Alright. It was one thing to lean into his kiss, reciprocate his embrace and shift herself into his lap. But, she didn't have to go off the way she did for their first kiss. Because, not only did Charlotte do these things, but she also rocked against him a little, which in turn, he took as an invitation to explore her with his big, strong hands.

She wasn't quite sure how awkward it must've been for Henry and Amelie to see them there when they left through the front door trying not to make any noise for the pair making out on the floor of the main hallway. But, she had to guess it was as bad as her realizing that they had to have seen them whenever they left, because the front door was right down that, very, hallway.

Eventually, she was the one who caught herself and ended the fun. Her head was spinning, nerves tingling and legs wobbling, but she found her senses and pulled herself together. Jasper was a pile of mush, except for the one thing, what, with her doing all that rocking against him. Ugh. Girl, a first kiss is supposed to be soft and sweet. You're not supposed to half grind the dude into the floor of your parents' house. She shivered thinking about his hands on her body, but it was time for that kiss to be put behind them.

"We can't be doing stuff like this," Charlotte said and helped him up. "I had a point before you did that and I don't even remember my middle name right now."

"The magic of love has rendered you temporarily futile…"

"No. The coursing of hormones has thrown off my equilibrium and it does not feel good."

He panicked. "But, it did though? The not good feeling is an afterthought, right?"

"You have to go and I need to lie down." He nodded and tried to give her a hug, but she placed her hands up to halt him and took a step back. "I'm serious." He nodded and left her, scratching his head and hoping that his stunt hadn't done the very thing that she was afraid of - ruined things between them.

.

Morning meetups were awkward. Jasper brought her breakfast, she brought his and Henry's, but they didn't really say much to each other. Instead, she spoke to Henry about everything but Jasper and whenever Jasper did speak, she was weird about her reponses.

Work was atypical. While they generally spent most shifts around each other, she now felt like the store needed to be watched at all times, but if he came up, she took that time to go make scans in the Man Cave to be sure they hadn't missed any calls for help.

In addition to avoiding him big time, she told him that she looked into Amelie pretty deeply and couldn't find any reason that he couldn't "get back on track" with her.

"You'd find that reason in the mirror," Jasper said and she just rolled her eyes and walked away from him. Whenever he told her that things were weird at home and asked if he could crash, she politely asked Henry if it was okay if Jasper crashed at his, instead. Jasper was exasperated, or as Henry said, in an attempt to be funny, exJasperated. Jasper commented that would be the name of his next podcast, and she left them to that conversation to return to the store.

"So… She's really just moving on like it didn't happen?" Henry wondered. He'd waited outside for Jasper that night, because he figured that Charlotte would catch herself and kick him to the curb. But, he thought that by now, she would have talked to Jasper about it, fixed their friendship and outlined how it could never happen again.

"No. It's worst. She's moving on like it did happen and it was horrifying for her. She refuses to be alone with me and she hardly talks to me, now. I feel like I did something bad to her, but I thought she liked it. I thought she liked me."

"She liked it and she likes you. You know what this is really about? Self control. She doesn't trust herself to be alone with you, because she might wind up on your lap, in your arms again and she thinks she shouldn't be there. You gotta show her that she should be there."

"How would I do that without being the very creepo that both you and her have told me numerous times to not be?"

"I don't know. Maybe her family knows something that we don't? Something that could help us get her for you."

"Her parents never say much beyond salutations and asking about my day. But… Uncle Rox might help. He loves me and we're friends on social media. He lived with them for a while. He had to notice something useful."

Henry nodded, "There you go!"

.

Jasper made an appointment with Uncle Roscoe at his new house, aka his wife's house, to set some wheels in motion for wooing Charlotte. The man was all too happy to help. "I LOVE love, Lil' Nephew," he told Jasper. "My niece sure can use some wooing. Does she still have an attitude about everything?"

"A huge tude… but I still love her. I find it endearing. She's polite with people she doesn't care about, so it's like… a compliment of sorts when you get that sass from her."

Uncle Roscoe nodded his head as he made some freshly squeezed juice. "Well, I had a secret weapon to soften her up when she was younger and I found out when I lived at their house that it still kinda worked, depending on the material."

"I must know!" Jasper said, making prayer hands. Roscoe slid a glass across the island to him and he luckily caught it in his palm. _Uncle Rox is super kewl. _

"You subscribe to her Spotify?" Roscoe asked.

"No. I don't believe that we share music tastes."

"Well, you better get used to it, because that's gon' be your bread and butter, Lil' Nephew. You see, Charlotte has a love for classic R&B, particularly the late 80's/early 90's. She loves all the boy groups that were popular when me and her moms grew up, because that's the type of stuff that her moms listened to when she was young. Now, most people stop experiencing new music as they get older. They have some nostalgia about their parents' music, which they pretend like they don't, like Charlotte be pretending. They have the stuff that was popular when they were growing up, that was their childhood music. And, mostly, by a certain point, they allow very little new music into their worlds. That's how my sister was. So, a lot of her music was stuff from the 80s and 90s, and Charlotte loves a lot of it, despite her pretenses."

"You… Think that me listening to 80's and 90's R&B boy groups will win over Charlotte?" Jasper asked confused, finally drinking his juice. "This juice is AMAZING!"

"That's that Roscoe's Tropical Trash right there. But, no. The listening is just the first step. You gotta know that music, Boi. You gotta learn it. You gotta know what to play and when. You can control Charlotte's little ass with the right song selection."

"That has to be made up," Jasper said, defeated.

Roscoe told him, "Try it out. If she gets mad, pull up "You Don't Have to Cry by Rene and Angela," and see if by the end of that song, she won't be a different woman. Matter of fact, before anything even happens in your day, just put on Rhythm of the Night by DeBarge and see if she don't have the cheeriest, happiest day."

Jasper cupped his cup in his fingers and stared at him. "I seriously can't tell if you're making up these songs and artists."

"Boi, here…" He opened his phone and said, "I'm gonna send you a link to Charlotte's Spotify. Check out them lists. She's got some of the music by the year and some by the decade, but it's all kinda R&B on it. She does like a few older than that, but her most frequent ones, I assure you are those 80s-90s ones, with the groups like Troop, New Edition, Boys II Men…"

"I know them!" Jasper cheered.

"Just… The songs I told you about. Use them, then get back to me when you ready to learn musical conditioning for Charlotte."

Uncle Roscoe used to be a vocal coach for a production studio that went ass end up in the 90s. He was also a musician, DJ, and club promoter. He was a bouncer at a jazz club, at a strip club, and at a popular night club. He still tried to make music sometimes. He played many instruments and he loved to sing. None of his efforts ever worked out fully. But, he still loved the music industry and he always had a good time with his niece, whenever a good song put her in a good mood. He knew what he was talking about, but Jasper might have to see for himself.

.

Charlotte was about to go upstairs when she heard the opening notes of Rhythm of the Night and bounced towards it curiously. Jasper and Henry were sitting around, and Jasper's device was connected to the computer. "How do you know this song?" She wondered.

"Uncle Rox shared a DOPE playlist with me whenever I went over for juice. I can't stop listening to it."

"It's a good song. A good feel good song!" She cheered, excited. "I never would have thought you'd like this, though."

"I love a good feel good song," he said. She just nodded, smiling and chilled for a little longer, singing along with the song and dancing by herself. It was a little weird for Henry and Jasper to see, but Jasper immediately realized that Uncle Roscoe was right! The music made Charlotte different!

Now, she was heading to the store, but she was pulling up her own playlist, because she felt like dancing around as she cleaned up the store. Henry smiled at her on the camera and said, "This is an adorable version of Char,"

"She's always adorable," Jasper said, watching her, enthralled.

Charlotte was glad for the dance party of one. She had been so stressed about letting Jasper down, trying to be his friend, trying to avoid him, trying to forget his lips and hands - she had forgotten to just enjoy herself. How lucky was it that Uncle Roscoe put Jasper onto such great music? And Jasper LIKED it? That just made him more likeable! Ugh. She was gonna groan about it, but Never Knew Love Like This Before by Stephanie Mills came on and she was right back in the feel good zone.

.

Charlotte had taken to starting her days with some feel good music, because everyday around Jasper was a struggle. She found that even when he said something frustratingly stupid, she still thought he was cute. Somehow, his ignorance was tolerable to her and even somewhat charming? She looked at him do something ridiculous and think - look at this cinnamon roll. Ugh! She hoped that whatever was going on was reversible. Until then, music therapy should do the daily trick. Today, she began her day with Square Biz by Teena Marie, which brought her mother in to jam with her for a little while and volunteer to do her hair while they hung out, singing and stuff. They didn't often, so that was a super plus of the day. She came out of the house in the highest spirits that she had been in, in weeks.

She had two braids with puffs at the end, with some charms braided in. She had worn some makeup. Her outfit was clutch. Honestly, she was slaying, and she felt amazing heading to the bakery. The guy at the bakery saw her and almost burned himself on the oven. She pretended not to see as she fought a smile. He quickly caught himself and got her order prepared. She said, "I'm in a really good mood, so I'll also take an assorted box of kolaches and donuts for my work. Surprise me with the flavors…"

They were both distracted by this music outside. Everybody in the bakery looked to see where it was coming from. "Is that Pretty Brown Eyes by Mint Condition?" Charlotte asked herself out loud, right before the doors opened and Jasper came in, singing the song.

"_Pretty brown eyes, You know I see you. It's a disguise the way you treat me. You keep holding on to your thoughts of rejection. If you're with me you're secured…"_

"What?" She asked herself, frozen in place at… whatever… this was. She loved that song. There was a whole ass band outside. "Uncle Roscoe…" She said, when she saw him and his friends playing Jasper's music. Henry was there, recording with his phone. She smiled at the clerk and pretended that they weren't there for her. She grabbed her order, forced a smile at her friends and tried to pass by. Henry took her order and Jasper continued to sing to her.

"_You keep telling me that your time is always taken, But I keep seeing you out alone. Listen to love; Your heart is pounding with desire waiting to be unleashed…"_

As he did, she tried not to blush and laugh. She walked out, and it was louder out there, with the band playing music, but Jasper's determined self was following her and singing, much like some kind of 90's music video. She couldn't help but be impressed and he was a pretty good singer too.

They'd really missed out, not letting him finish his songs during the musical curse. He danced around her, singing the lyrics and she couldn't help but bop to the music.

"_Quit breakin' my heart _

_Breakin' my heart, yeah (pretty brown eyes,_ Uncle Roscoe was singing backup and playing his instrument)

_Breakin' my heart, yeah_

_Breakin' my heart, sugar, yeah, yeah"_

She LOVED this song! Whenever Jasper neared the end of his song, she was pretty much weak and he was so fine, and this took so much work and wasn't she WORTH this kind of trouble? Jasper sure thought so. Maybe he was worth a little trouble too. Maybe he was worth the risks she worried about. That high pitched, "Quit breaking my heart!" Was her sign. She grabbed him, pulled him to her and started kissing him. Henry cheered him on, and Uncle Roscoe returned a favor of calling out, "Get it, Lil' Nephew!"

Henry sniffled, "I'm so proud, right now."

Charlotte pulled back, laughed, shook her head and told Jasper, "You're crazy. Remember, when it sucks, you insisted on this. Now… You've got me."

He looked towards the band and yelled, "We did it, Uncle Rox! She's mine!"

She rolled her eyes, grabbed his hand and pulled him down the street. Henry stopped recording and looked at the band, "Ummm… Well… You gentlemen, and ladies have a good day." He caught up with his friends, holding the breakfast while they held hands and smiled at each other the whole time. "Feeling left out," Henry said.

"You'll pull through," Charlotte told him.

Jasper just laughed and gave her a kiss on the temple. "You are so pretty," he told her. Then, with a big smile, "I can't believe that I'm this lucky!"


	10. Swellview Stats

_So, I decided to do a little more Charlotte's inner thoughts in this chapter. I know I did a touch here and there last chapter, but more in this one. It's in Italics._

Swellview Stats

_Swellview might as well be a Utopia for simple minded individuals and intellects who gave up being competitive in the wide world. We have some of the safest neighborhoods, because of a couple of reasons. One of them is the Man Team. The other is the fact that our villains are stupid. Honestly, our townsfolk are stupid, too. There's probably a handful of brain cells in Swellview that get lent around for convenience, and a select few absolute geniuses who just got stuck here because they were born here and staying was too easy. I can't be one of those geniuses. The last time there was a murder in Swellview was like 35 years ago and it was accidental. There are often injuries as a result of chaotic driving or Captain Man goofing up a rescue, but statically, Swellview is a safe and comfortable place. Do I love safety? Yes. Do I love comfort? More than anyone I know! Can I settle for being the best in my field when my counterparts would never even rank in the country? Why would I? _

* * *

_I'm Charlotte Page. I aspire to be Dr. Charlotte Page, a Renaissance woman who specializes in every letter of STEAM, focusing on biomedical engineering… _she looked at her boyfriend, shoving oversized eggs into his mouth while the rest of the guys counted, "8,9.." she got up, shaking her head and left the table.

She already had a dozen acceptance letters for colleges, was already taking some courses and had finished a couple of programs via Swellview University while she was in school. She had all of her graduation credits last year. She was going to graduate early, but decided to just get additional high school transcripts dings, and start college low-key, to transition a little better afterwards.

Besides, her work in the Man Cave was excellent practice for the work that she would be doing in her near future. She was thinking by 21, she'd have her _first _degree and probably be able to design electrical circuits, software to run medical equipment, or computer simulations to test new drug therapies. She'd want to try out a tech position at a renowned lab, but might have to settle for something more subtle because she'd still be working on her education, too.

By 23, she should be able to_ finally _make a move towards the lab of her choice with the previous lab work experience and her highest degree completed."Hey, Charlotte! Jasper just stuffed 12 eggs into his mouth!" Henry bragged and stuck his tongue out laughing. "Then he swallowed them whole!"

"What?" She asked turning to the table again.

"Just gulped 'em down his gullet!" Ray cheered.

"Jasper?" Charlotte fussed. "You KNOW that eating that many boiled eggs will give you painful gas!"

Jasper said to the guys at the table, "Hey. How many farts you guys think I'll make when these eggs give me gas?" They started giving out numbers.

Charlotte folded her arms and glared at him, shaking her head. Henry was grateful HE wasn't the one getting the look this time. In fact, those looks seemed to be reserved for her boyfriend these past few weeks. She definitely loved him. Henry knew she did, because why else on Earth would that match even take place. But, he also realized that she had buttons. Buttons that Jasper pushed with childlike wonder, with enthusiasm that seemed to ask, "What does this one do?" Henry offered some intervention in saying, "Charlotte, you are dating a legend. A Man Cave legend. Nobody makes stats like Jasp does in this place."

"And what are these stats good for?" She asked Henry.

Ray intercepted, "Allow me." He grabbed a remote control and pressed a button, which revealed a chart of really stupid things (like how many punches in the belly you can take), and a points system. Jasper was in the lead. She was in last place.. in a contest that she didn't even know could happen, with points mainly for dodging certain death during Ray's irresponsible tantrums or something. "Yes, stare in awe," Ray told her.

"Awe is definitely a word," she said. She sighed, shook her head and said, "I'm going up into the store, before the gas and fart counting begins…" She heard a loud noise and saw Henry's distorted face.

Ray cheered, "Too late." And she was gone. Up the tube gone. She wasn't even gonna stay at work if this is what they were doing with their time.

Jasper was really sweet. Whenever it was the two of them, she was the only person in the world. Whenever they were with their friends, he was still sweet, but… they brought out the oaf in him. Now… as a friend of all of these people, she couldn't be too judgy. And nobody MADE her say yes to Jasper. She just wished that his best round of friends weren't.. this.

She was thinking about the upcoming college years and he was literally making a game out of his flatulence. The most frustrating thing about that was that Jasper isn't even a fart humor type person! He finds that gross and childish! But, whenever it's the guys, he's onboard for childish shenanigans. Unless he's pretending to be more mature when he's with her. Then, that's false advertising, and she'd feel bamboozled. BUT then, if THAT was the case.. she would have to admit to being outsmarted by JASPER! Charlotte let out an aggravated squeal and frightened a lady and her dog walking by. They went to the other side of the street and she kept going, feeling awkward.

Piper was home, so she stopped by. "Hey… I wanted to vent to someone about Jasper…"

Piper raised her palm and said, "Let me give you a little disclaimer. Whatever it is that you have to say, my perpetual thought will be, "What did you expect when you started going out with Jasper?"

"Fair enough. Can I begin?" Piper sat down and Charlotte joined her on the couch. "So.. I know that Jasper's a little bit offbeat."

"What an understatement."

"He's honestly not as stupid as people think. He's very good at listening. He is insightful when it comes to interpersonal relationships. He gives excellent pep talks and sometimes pretty good advice, if he understands all of the details. He's an honest, loyal, and caring friend and has been a very thoughtful boyfriend."

"So, this is gushing and not venting? Balls." Piper flopped back, prepared to listen to Jasper praise that she didn't ask for.

"No. That was the good stuff that I have to get out of the way before I complain to him about what I can't stand, unless I want to see him cry!"

"You.. say all of that before you get to your point? And he listens?"

"Jasper feeds off of compliments. They open him up fully and then you can slide in the complaints. Only thing is that I knew he was the guy that he is and it's not fair to expect him to change, but.. Shouldn't he want to? Wouldn't you rather do anything else in the world than count farts with your friends, when you have an awesome girlfriend who's also around?"

"I would rather do anything else if I was as lonely as an old lady in a house thought to be haunted. But, I'm not Jasper. And like you said, you knew he was an idiot from the moment he first opened his mouth. We all did. I knew he was an idiot from the moment my memory formed as a toddler and he was at our house in all his stupid glory."

"But he's not stupid! That's the problem. He's ignorant about a lot. He's naive. He doesn't always think things through. But… have you ever seen him plan something out for a date? Or heard him talk to a little kid? Jasper is definitely unique, but I think he could do anything he puts his mind to. I just wish he'd put his mind to things that matter."

"Do you ever suggest these things?"

"Yeah, but I can't control him!"

Piper laughed, "Oh, Charlotte. I keep forgetting that this is your first boyfriend. Of course you can control him. Jasper is… what's a word that you won't refute?... Impressionable. Make better impressions. Lemme see your phone."

Charlotte reluctantly handed it over and Piper read out loud as she typed, "Shame that you didn't want to hang with me today. Gonna have to pick out new undies by myself. Sad face emoji."

"What?"

"Send."

"WHAT?"

Piper held a hand up to her, then pointed to the phone to show her Jasper was typing. "I would chop off the entire bottom half of my body to be included in that!"

"Too late. But, hope that the fart counting went well. Maybe, if you're more considerate later, I'll text you pix of my choices."

"Don't send that!"

"Send."

Charlotte snatched her phone from Piper, but Piper bent over her to see Jasper's next response, "Okay… I didn't mean to be inconsiderate? Next time, I'll check to see if you need anything from me before being stupid with the guys all day." Charlotte shook her head and said, "That's unfair to play him like that."

Are you mad at me, Babe?" Jasper wondered.

Charlotte: No. That was Piper. I let her see my phone.

Jasper: Ok… but… did you tell her that stuff about me?

Charlotte: I said some things, but…He called. She groaned and answered, "Hey. Sorry about that…"

"Hey… if I'm doing something wrong, you can just tell me. You don't have to go to Piper."

"I came here just to vent."

"About me?"

"A little."

"Vent to me. Tell me what's wrong." She began to give out her list of compliments, but he cut her off, "Charlotte. I said tell me what's wrong. I know that you like and respect me. There's no other reason that you'd date me. What's your beef, though? What did you have to vent about?"

She sighed and laid on the couch as she talked. Piper hung around, listening to the end of the chat as she used her own cell phone. "I just feel like you would rather be doing senseless things with the guys at work than anything with me."

"I feel like I do a lot with you and that I've hardly hung out with them in the past few weeks, but I'll try to be more mindful about things. I don't want you having to vent about me."

"I… shouldn't have said anything."

"How else could I know? I'm not intuitive." She frowned. "Hey, pretty girl. Smile. Don't stress about it. You didn't say yes to a caveman. I just like to relax with my bros sometimes and that can't change. You smiling?"

"Yeah," she lied.

"No you're not. That's not your smiling voice."

Now, she was smiling, "Thought you said you weren't intuitive."

"There it is!" He cheered. "I'm not intuitive. I just really know you. Not enough to read your mind, but enough to hear that smile."

She smiled even wider and said, "You irritate me."

"Maybe. But not right now. Otherwise, you wouldn't be smiling so much." They both held the phone a while and Jasper asked in a low, soft voice, "You love me, right?"

"I've never said that," she said.

"That wasn't a no!" He said and she could swear… she could swear that she could hear him smiling. "I love you too." He hung up the phone and she nudged Piper with her foot.

"You're welcome," Piper said.

.

_Swellview is not so much "Home Sweet Home" as it is, a safe place with sweet people that you could get used to. Crime rates are fairly high, but the crimes are pretty safe. The news is hilarious. You can just walk right into a friend's home and their door is probably open, and their family probably treats you like you're a part of theirs. It's a good place to meet the love of your life, even. Maybe not so much to stay there with them, though. I don't know how to ask Jasper what's going to happen when we graduate. I don't know how to even suggest that he come with me. I have no idea if he'll even want something more than Swellview. I have no idea if he thinks that I'm something more than Swellview._


	11. Chef's Kiss

This chapter is dedicated to my lil' sis @chenoahchantel, without whom, I might not have even started Determined, BUT she be there to egg my ass on and gas me up when my ideas don't even be formed or sensible. That girl done had to put up with so many messages that didn't make a lick of sense to her while I'm brainstorming and she just be here for the ride.

Chef's Kiss

Jasper planned on going to college, but wasn't really sure what he wanted to do. He thought about psychology a lot, but his stepdad promised him a portion of his company if he got a business degree. He didn't know what he wanted to do, but he knew that he didn't want to be in his stepdad's debt.

He could start another podcast, this time about something more people cared about than those who were bucketeers. ExJasperation really was a hot title! But, he didn't know what it would even be about. He thought about putting all of his silly "records" on the Internet for the world to see. Because, he did kinda live for applause, but he knew that he wouldn't receive Charlotte's, so it'd be besides the point. What the heck could he do, for his future that could be for their future. Because, honestly - she seemed like she had one foot out of the door, like all of the time.

They were super lovey dovey in private. She'd never admit it, but she loved that romance stuff and being delicate and vulnerable, and he loved being able to give her that. He loved having someone to care about and feel protective of. And while Charlotte could sometimes hurt his feelings with a single look or tone of disapproval, she mostly made him feel affirmed.

Plus, she never truly seemed like he had won her completely over, which gave him the opportunity to feel like he was still on a mission to do so. Jasper loved a good challenge and being close to Charlotte was nothing else, if not that. She was full of mysteries that he wanted to uncover. She was proficient in erecting walls that he wanted to be the man who was good enough and strong enough to either breakthrough, or be granted passage over. Plus, they were friends, so he wanted to do it the right way. He wasn't perfect and not necessarily always even good or kind when it came to girls. He'd been known to use a few tricks to get what he wanted. Charlotte knew that much about him, so he in turn knew that he'd have to really prove himself and come correct to gain and keep her trust and respect. He had his boyfriend title, but Jasper wanted to go for broke with her. He wanted everything. All of it, all of her, all of it with her. He didn't know just yet what the hell she wanted, though.

However, if he had to guess - a real man, smart, capable, strong, etc… also as aforementioned by her, herself… rich. He didn't feel like any of those things, but had always believed that what he didn't have, he made up for it with charm and dedication. That might work for non-Charlottes… but.. he was stressed out, way more than he'd let on about being her guy. And also… what the heck could he do with his life that would make him money? He was 18. This was the age that he spent most of his life saying he'd figure out what to do by then. He hadn't figured out anything. To make matters worse, he told his parents that he and Charlotte were together, and there was not a shred of support given. If anything, there was a sea of doubt explored.

.

Charlotte wasn't sure what was going on with Jasper lately. He barely touched her, he wasn't coming over so much and he was playing it super cool whenever she was the one to try to initiate affection or make plans. Was he mad at her? Was he just going through something? She wasn't gonna press him, but it was messing with her. She'd watched Jasper make everybody around him crazy while trying to knab some girl, then get bored and move on like a switch had been flipped. She promised herself that nobody would ever do her like that… so just imagine how she might feel if Jasper tried it?

"Hey. You okay?" She asked. He went on a face journey, which she interrupted to say, "Because if you aren't and it's me, then I expect the same respect you expect from me to communicate it."

"It's me," he said, kissed her on the forehead and walked off. That was kind of more frustrating than if he had said it was her!

"Baby…" she said, then widened her eyes. He turned sharply, smiling and she shook her head, "That was weird. I don't know why I said it." He just smiled and nodded. "But… are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

He sighed and came back to stand in front of her. "My mom." She almost said 'Say no more,' but, she was concerned. "She thinks that I'm gonna get hurt by you, especially if we…" he shrugged his shoulders, "She thinks I'm the virgin and you're having a fun little trist with me."

"Okay. But you and I both know that none of that is true, so why let her bother you?"

"Because, what if it's reversed and I mess you up. You don't even like… well… stuff. So, I've been trying not to engage, so I don't feel like I'm putting any pressure on you."

She squinted her eyes and asked, "Are… we speaking about sex right now?"

"We're talking about not sexing."

She had a look of realization. "Okay." She laughed and nodded. "I see. You think that because I came out as ace a few years ago and have never had a relationship or sex that means that I won't do it or don't eventually want to try it."

"I mean… isn't that part of that.. identity or orientation.. or whatever?"

"I mean, for some, I'm sure. But, Jasper you've got to communicate with your partner about her specific desires and needs. Because, first off, I don't think it would ruin anything, least of all ME and just because I'm not sexually motivated doesn't mean I pyshically can't or that I'm repulsed by it. Besides, I'm still ace, but lately, I think I may be a demi."

"A demigoddess?" He asked, and she knew he was asking in all seriousness.

"Wow. Yeah. Let's go with that too." She laughed and pulled him closer to her, looked him dead in the eyes and said, "Don't be afraid, Jasper. I'm not fragile or defenseless… and I'm open to try things. Wouldn't know what the heck I'm doing, but I'll let you know when you need to be careful with me." She kissed him on the lips and shoved him playfully, chuckling to herself. "Demigoddess. You are such an idiot."

"You only think that because I'm merely human," he joked. But secretly, he was gonna have to look up what "a demi" actually meant. Because, he hated asking her to explain things to him so much. It made him aware of how much smarter she was and he didn't want to remind her of that, ever. It was hard enough just keeping up with the living legend of her.

.

Whenever he read: a demisexual is a person who does not experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional connection with someone… a few things happened.

He noted to himself that Charlotte declaring herself this also meant that she was sexually attracted to him.

Charlotte was also admitting to having a strong emotional connection to him.

He could pursue his girlfriend without guilt of pressure!

So, three months into dating his best friend, Jasper was alone with Charlotte, in her bedroom, with her parents gone and the mood simply felt right.

Jasper nibbled on her bottom lip for a while as she watched, confused, wide eyes, bushy tailed. She could tell something had shifted in him, with them. Was this about to happen? Realizing that it most definitely was, she tried to kiss him back, but he gently pressed his forehead against hers and pushed against her with it. She furrowed her eyebrows and stared at his opening eyes as he made eye contact and shook his head a little.

Now, she laid there, even more perplexed and wondering why she didn't expect some weirdness from him. Of course, he'd pull something that she never read about in her studies. He didn't do that the other times that they kissed. "Just memorizing your taste tonight," he said, and finished with one defined hard peck against her lips. "Now, you can kiss me," he said with a playful smile.

Any other circumstances and she might have given him a piece of her mind. But though he was being a little demanding, it was more controlled and confident, (which she read as hot) so she followed his instructions, because apparently one of them knew what they wanted and what they wanted to do. He did this on a path down her body, until he got where he was going, where she sensed was his endpoint of the taste memorization journey.

Charlotte didn't know what she expected, but it hadn't been to have a life changing event. She read enough clinical information and compared it to enough publicized personal accounts to prepare for disappointment, especially grading on the curve that this was Jasper, whom she only recently even became attracted to and despite her attraction, he was still in fact, Jasper.

When he came up for air, she was both speechless and unable to move. He was fine, with the exception of looking slightly love drunk as he cuddled her to himself, kissed her behind the ear and whispered to her. "You taste better than I've even been imagining. Ineffable, really."

First off, double sploosh for bringing good vocab, to what she gathered now was a fight instead of a delight - a fight she was most definitely losing, having showed up unarmed unless she counted overconfidence as a weapon, and even then; he'd disarmed her. "You're like.. what's the gesture when they put their fingertips to their lips and," he completed the gesture for her.

"I believe it's called the chef's kiss," she managed to say, breathily.

"Chef's Kiss. That's you." He said and did the gesture again. She just laid there, blushing and knowing he obviously didn't care if she recovered from the previous battle. He gently helped remove the rest of her clothes, then his own shirt before looking at her, wondering what she was thinking or more importantly if she wanted what he wanted. She reached for his pants and he smiled, but shifted aside to remove them himself before climbing next to her and collecting her again.

'Good,' she thought, 'Maybe I'll have a chance to get him back somehow, right?' Nope. She wasn't thinking about the fact that this wasn't Jasper's first rodeo, just hers. He wasn't the type to kiss and tell (at least not her, and before now she wouldn't have asked or even been curious to know what kind of girl wanted JASPER). But… bih… the me kind. Every girl that she casually knew Jasper to have engaged with, in her opinion was a little (or lot) out of his league… but as he changed Charlotte's entire life, in this moment, she realized that she had grossly misjudged whatever Jasper's league WAS. "Oh shit," she whispered to herself. He checked on her and she simply got out of her own mind and held him closer.

"I'm never going to hurt you, take advantage of you, or take you for granted," he promised her at just the right time to make her cry and silently pledge the same. Silently, because once again, speechless, and if she could think straight, she'd probably add useless. Either the stats were lies, or Jasper was an extraordinary man! Oh. God. Jasper was an extraordinary man. She smiled as she held him tightly. And he was hers.

"Did you really just make me yours forever?" She asked, quietly rubbing his chest gently, feeling dainty, vulnerable, and honestly more like herself than ever before.

He made eye contact with her, said, "I can't tell you that, but I sure hope so," and winked at her.

.

Charlotte nervously walked up to meet with Jasper and Henry… Jasper and Henry? Even how she identified them changed. It was always "Henry and Jasper." Now, somehow someway Jasper was first. She obsessed over the things that she didn't know about for hours leading here. What was he gonna tell Hen? WAS he gonna? She remembered overheating him low-key brag about his first time, a couple of years ago and being so grossed out by even the suggestion of that; she'd decried, "Never tell me about, or speak of you and anyone doing any of that, in my presence, for as long as I live." Jasper generally always respected her wishes. So, she didn't know just how he and Henry spoke of his conquests. Because whenever he talked to her about them, he never mentioned the physical engagement. Just romance and practicalities of plans, etc.

In her estimation, from overhearing, or Henry casually name-dropping the girls, she figured that Jasper had at least kissed perhaps 9 girls that she knew of, made out or done more with perhaps 7 of them, if her murky memory of details she avoided served her anything, and as far as she knew, she was the 3rd or 4th of that number that he'd gone this far with.

Then again, for all she knew, he'd done this very thing to all nine of them and just played it off well, pretended to be cool to not show her what she told him not to, or literally didn't really think much of those events. For all she knew, he didn't think much of what they shared, either! The idea of that was somehow terrifying, whether or not she would admit or show it.

She had no idea what he would treat her like today. He promised not to treat her poorly, but given the position they were in at the time, that could have been an ambitious declaration. She heard Henry say, "Third time's a charm!" And suddenly felt extremely exposed, wondering what he was talking about. Was it her? Had Jasper told? Had they made high pitched tongue noises and wiggled their fingertips together?? Did Henry ask for details out of morbid curiosity???

"What are you two talking about?" She asked more high pitched than she intended.

"Speaking of charms," Jasper said, immediately making her melt. "A kiss for good luck?" He lifted his hand to her like a movie socialite and she leaned to kiss it, laughing a little, though still unclear of what she walked up on. "It's on, now." Jasper said turning to Henry.

Henry observed, "I'm suddenly feeling unlucky."

"Yeah!" Jasper said and they went for a third round of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Charlotte sighed as Jasper celebrated and Henry grunted in defeat. She needed to pull herself together. Those two were FINE. SHE was the one tripping. "I knew you'd tip the scales, Chef's Kiss!" Jasper collected her by her side and pulled her in to plant his lips on the temple of her head. Her face warmed at the combination of that public claim to her, the nickname that she knew where she got it, and just his manly touch, in general. She couldn't believe that she was feeling this way about and seeing Jasper this way. He gently ran his thumb up and down the center of the back of her neck and she let out a whimper that his eyes confessed he both noticed and probably expected. She looked at Henry to see if he noticed. He definitely noticed something, but he wasn't sure what.

"You okay, Char?" Jasper asked. Now, that motherfather knew she wasn't okay!

"Yep." She lied and shoved him his breakfast bag and cup. For Jasper, this morning, she had told him don't eat breakfast. Presently, she said, "I made you something." Henry just noticed that she had an entire other bag. It was a tote bag with a fashionable girl with an afro on it, but inside, was apparently a little meal. "I know you've been super into the maple bacon donuts from that bakery near my house, but I made the mistake of asking about the nutrition stats and long story short, I hope you like the maple bacon breakfast pie recipe I found online and prepared instead."

"Wait, what?" Henry asked.

"You cooked me breakfast?" Jasper asked, gushing.

"I didn't take away your morning milkshake, but I changed it up a bit for less sugar content and more vitamins. Still tastes pretty good and hopefully better with the love content of me using scientific formulas on a freakin' breakfast milkshake."

He smiled cheesily and clutched her to himself as he bragged to Henry, "Know what I call this? Wifey material. You oughtta get you a girl that cares about great taste and good nutritional content." Before Henry could think of a witty retort, Jasper was pulling Char in for another uncomfortable to Henry kiss. She ended it and continued walking ahead of them with confidence and certainty.

"Umm, Jasper, what'd you do to Char?" Henry asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen you wrap girls around your finger before, but this is Char and it's quite unnerving."

Jasper blushed and waved a hand at Henry. "She's not wrapped around my finger. She's just thoughtful and nurturing…" Henry cackled to the clouds at that assessment and Jasper shook his head and kept walking. Charlotte turned around to confront Henry. Jasper still continued walking, reaching into his breakfast bag.

"What's funny, Henry? You don't think I'm thoughtful and nurturing?"

"No! I don't think so, because it's not the truth!" Henry said, "Obviously."

"I literally have brought you breakfast every single day, JUST BECAUSE you whined once about being left out!"

"Well, that's just honest math. You get paid more than me."

"That's because you either always forget to ask for raises, or you always ask at the wrong time, against my STRONG advice!"

"It'd be thoughtful if you included me with those raise asks whenever you ask for you, Jasper, and Schwoz!"

"I explained to you that the one time that I DID do that, it made Ray THINK about the question and I had to backtrack and remind him that you were in a different department and probably not my business. It's too risky for my raises to bring you up whenever I request them!" Jasper let their bickering be background noise to his exquisite breakfast. She'd made 4 mini pies and they were SO GOOD, but he knew she probably wouldn't be making these every morning, so hopefully, he could convince her to plug the recipe into the auto snacker, because this was gonna be his new breakfast of choice for a few reasons. One - his babygirl had made them for him specifically. Two - they were so delish… Charlotte interrupted his thoughts whenever she pulled him into the argument with Henry, "Jasper! Tell the truth - am I thoughtful, and Henry's wrong… or is Henry right to suggest that I don't think about others?"

Jasper took a big swallow and dusted his mouth and shirt off while Henry observed out loud, "Jasper ALWAYS agrees with me. You think that a few kisses and some pie can buy a lifelong friendship of unity and agreement?" Henry asked.

"I think that Jasper is an individual, and whether or not I am his co-bestfriend slash girlfriend, aka Chef's Kiss, he can make decisions without you, unless he actually agrees that I'm not thoughtful."

Jasper knew what this was. Charlotte had just instructed him to publicly agree with her, instead of Henry. She'd put emphasis on words to help guide his decision making process. She'd brought up his new nickname for her to get him to consider what was at stake if he sided with Henry. But… He agreed with both of them. So, he might as well have a double win with his lady. "You're extremely thoughtful," he said and kissed her on the forehead. "Breakfast was delicious and you still included Henry, even though he isn't your child or man." Henry shook his head and Jasper shrugged his shoulders. "I can be bought with pie, I guess." That Chef's Kiss pie.

As Charlotte continued, victorious, Jasper whispered to Henry, "But, I agree with you in spirit - thoughtfulness definitely isn't one of her strongest points." He patted him on the shoulder and they continued walking, Henry with his mouth wide open that Jasper would side against him just for a little lovin'!


	12. Stuck on Stupid

**Stuck on Stupid**

Charlotte was frustrated. More than she wanted to be and more than she wanted to show. Henry and Jasper were making their plans, as they usually did. She was focusing on what she had to, as usual. Ray was discussing something with Schwoz and Piper was coming into the store. Charlotte noticed her on the monitor and got up to go meet her. Jasper didn't even notice that she was leaving. "Bye, Guys!" she said, with her stankest attitude.

Jasper just smiled and waved. Henry cheered, "Later, Char!"

Whenever she got to Piper, Piper immediately noticed something was wrong, "Great, what did he do now?" she wondered. Charlotte's glare softened and she forced a smile and shook her head. "I know it's something, because your forehead is all wrinkly."

"It's nothing. Well, it's nothing that I have a right to be mad about."

"But, you _are_ mad, so spill it, Sister."

Charlotte sighed and said, "Jasper and Henry are making plans for prom, when neither of them have made any type of moves towards college, and prom and graduation are very close to each other. How can they possibly care more about a stupid school dance than our future!"

"You mean than _their_ futures?"

"Yeah. Of course."

Piper thought for a moment, then wondered, "Charlotte… Do you plan on being with Jasper after graduation? Because, if you do, maybe the two of you should be mapping out your plans _together_."

"_My_ plans are already mapped out. _My_ plans have been mapped out since seventh grade. Anytime I try to ask Jasper what he wants to do, he says something goofy like "Just be happy and be loved," like THAT buys you personal tennis court! He could at least tell me that he's gonna take general studies at the community college until he figures it out. Or that he'll get a full time job and save up for a tech school stint. Or ANYTHING. Tell me something that doesn't make me feel like I spent 18 years being responsible, only to get so sprung now that I let my hormones think for me, and that is NOT me!" She made a squealing noise and punched a random piece of junk in the store, putting her fist through it.

"Whoa. Charlotte… You've got a temper," Piper _had the nerve _to say. "Listen… what is it about Jasper that makes you think that you shouldn't break up with him, like right now? What keeps you from making the wise and smart decision of letting him go?" Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and looked at her feet and mumbled something. "You what?"

"Love him!" She said with her eyes shut and her fists clenched.

"I don't understand why, but if that's the case, that's what you present. Jasper, I…" Piper struggled to even hypothetically repeat it, "love you and I want us to be together. That can't happen if I don't see you taking your future as seriously as I take mine. You can do what you want, but not with me. With me, you've gotta do what you gotta and you need to let me know really soon what that is."

Charlotte shook her head and said, "That sounds like an ultimatum. I don't want to threaten him into anything. I want to encourage him into things."

"Oh, then I can't help you."

"I didn't ask for help!" Charlotte squealed.

Piper folded her arms and said, "No. Just poured and punched a poor defenseless piece of junk."

"I should just break up with him. That's nicer than trying to get him to change and I promised myself that I wouldn't try to change him!"

"I second breaking up with him."

"But that would also be breaking my own heart. You know what I need? I need to create a vision board for this." Charlotte grabbed her backpack and left the store.

Piper said, "I came here to pick you up!" And chased her outside.

Meanwhile, Ray busted out laughing as Jasper tried not to have a nervous breakdown. "Henry, good call on eavesdropping on Charlotte's conversation with your sister!" Ray said through tears of laughter.

Henry glared at him and tried to collect Jasper's hands, "Jasp,"

"Oh my God!" Jasper said.

"I'm sure it's fine…"

"She's gonna break up with me! How is it fine?" Jasper was hyperventilating.

Henry said, "He's having some kind of attack, Ray. Do something!" Ray punched Jasper in the face and knocked him out. Henry rushed to catch his friend so that he wouldn't fall to the floor. "What! Is wrong with you?"

"I fixed the problem! You're welcome," Ray said and walked off, scoffing at Henry's audacity. Henry rested Jasper on the couch and sighed, wondering if he should call Charlotte or try to wake up Jasper. One of these things, but the "freaking out" in him wouldn't tell him which one! Okay. Maybe wake up Jasper. Maybe call Charlotte and ask her if he should wake up Jasper? He called Charlotte and said, "Char!"

"Henry, I'm busy," she told him.

"Yeah, yeah. Me too. Listen… We sort of spied on you and Piper a little while ago and Jasper had a panic attack and Ray punched him unconscious."

"WHAT? WHY?"

"What to which part? And follow up… Why to which part?"

"I'm on my way. Piper, can you please go back? These… IDIOTS just possibly injured Jasper!"

"Why am I an idiot, too? Ray is the one that punched him…" She hung up on him. "So… She's mad."

"About what?" Ray wondered.

Jasper was awake by the time that Charlotte came storming into the Man Cave, ready to swing on pretty much everybody in the room. Piper was waiting in the store for her and wondering, like she always did how in the world this store was still standing with literally no customers whatsoever, EVER.

Charlotte came storming into the building and Jasper looked nervous, while Henry looked panicked. Ray was fine. She marched up to him and began to swing her bag at him. "Ouch! Ouch! Why are you hitting me?"

"You punched Jasper in the face and knocked him unconscious!" She fussed. Jasper came to collect her and she turned to Henry, "And you!"

"I tried to help him, I swear!" He said, fucking behind Jasper.

She went on to say, "I know it was your idea to eavesdrop on me and you can bite it, Henry Hart!" She grabbed Jasper's hand and said, "Let's go. I have to stay with you to make sure you don't have a concussion and we aren't staying here!" She pulled him, swung her bag one more time at Ray, who pushed Schwoz in the way.

When they got onto the elevator, Charlotte was asking questions about how he felt. He felt fine. He had a high tolerance for physical pain. It was his heart that was aching. He was afraid to admit that. Instead, he answered her questions and afterwards asked, "Are you gonna break up with me?"

She sighed and said, "No. I just wish that you cared more about your future. I feel like you not caring about your future is you not caring about OUR future. It makes me feel like you kinda don't care about… me." Her volume dropped dramatically when she admitted that.

"What? No. How could you think that? You're the most important person in my life, right now. I don't know… I'm sorry if you feel like I don't care. Can you help me fix it? There's nothing could be further from the truth and I don't have the… I'm sorry. Nobody ever taught me how to love you right, but I promise I'm trying to learn how! I thought I was doing okay." She sighed, put her backpack down and collected him into a hug. "I thought you knew that you mean the world to me. I don't know how to handle knowing that you don't.." She cupped his face and kissed him. But he shook his head. He'd let her down, somehow. She wasn't going to make him forget. No matter how juicy and sweet her lips were. "Charlotte, no." He said and moved her off of him. "Tell me what I can do."

"I just… Wish that I knew what your plans are? Is this a senior year fling? Did you just want to have a high school sweetheart to tell your future wife and kids how things turn out differently than you think when you're young and in school? Did you just want another notch on your belt? Did you just want to see what it felt like to hook up with your best friend? To bed an asexual? To…"

"Please, stop! None of that is true. I don't… I thought that I'd be spending our senior year working and saving up to maybe move out of my mom's when I turned 18 and most likely just dropping out and working until I had enough to be comfortable. I figured that I'd spend years working in the Man Cave and watching you be successful in your science stuff and watching Henry become the hero of Swellview and just having to be happy to accept that I had really awesome friends who made a difference in the world. MAYBE find somebody to put up with me long enough to fall in love and start a family and hope that Henry would pay me enough to provide for them. I didn't think too deeply about my future before you and nobody made me. My mother would be fine with me never leaving the house. I'm on my fourth stepdad and I don't know if he likes her as much as a husband should. I've told you - You and Henry are my only people, and you're my PERSON. My favorite person. I wish that I could have everything with you, but I realistically know that isn't possible. I have a lot of ideas and plans that I've had in recent months, but I know that most of my plans are usually stupid, so I didn't want to present anything to you. My stepdad calls it being "stuck on stupid," which is hokey talk for somebody who's basically trapped being stupid." He felt really weak right now, so he just hid his face against the elevator wall.

Charlotte felt bad. "Jasper?" She said, softly. She didn't want to just reach out and touch him. "Do you want me to get off of the elevator and give you a moment? Or stay?"

"I will always want you to stay."

Now, she reached out and touched his shoulders, "And I always want to stay. That was the reason that I was upset. I thought that you didn't want that with me. It was a miscommunication, Jasper."

"I have goals," he reiterated. "I write them down and I say them out loud, just to see how it sounds and looks. I scratch off a lot and tear out a lot of pages…" She didn't want to talk about that anymore. He was too upset and all she wanted was for him to feel better.

"Let's get you home. Piper's waiting to drop us off at your house."

"You're coming to my house? With my mom there?"

"If we're gonna have a future… I'm gonna have to get used to her, or at least try to tolerate her." She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I love you, you know?" He couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"You've never said that out loud before," he noted.

"I know. But… I also know that sometimes, a person just needs to hear it." She was scared to make eye contact. She loved him, but Jasper's love level could be a little bit intimidating. The thing was that Charlotte felt a little bit guilty that this was her first time saying it out loud. She'd written it down before on gifts, in a platonic way. She'd texted it as abbreviations or in emojis. But, saying it out loud always felt like it might cement her to him and she was already scared of how clingy he was. If they _didn't _last. If they _didn't _work out… What kind of condition would they be in with that being out and on the table, for real? And now, he was staring at her with this huge, proud smile and she could feel the warmth of it on her forehead. It might be too bright for her eyes to bear. But, Jasper lifted her chin to have to face him and he told her, "I love you too. But, you know that." He moved in to kiss her, but truth be told, all this emotion was a bit intense for her, so she pressed the button and they held on to not fall down as the episode shot upward.

Piper dropped them off at Jasper's house. Charlotte was pretty quiet the whole trip, while Jasper seemed pretty elated. Piper didn't want to get involved. Instead, she just said, "Hey. Call me if you need me to pick you up?"

"Yeah. Thanks so much, Piper. You're a great friend," Charlotte said. Piper made a confused expression. Charlotte was unsure of why she said that. She was just in her feelings, she guessed. Jasper was sleepy, so they went inside and his mom was in the kitchen, cooking. Jasper was so out of it at this moment that Charlotte was the one to address her. "Hi!" She tried to cheer. "Um, Jasper unfortunately had a work accident and so I escorted him home and hope that I can stick around for a little bit to see if he's alright and doesn't need any medical attention."

Jasper's mom's smile was fake, but at least it was there. "Okay. Well… Keep the door open," she said. "Are you going to stay for dinner?"

"I'm not hungry. I was thinking that I'd just finish some homework while I monitor Jasper to make sure he doesn't have a concussion or anything."

"Okay. I didn't realize that you were qualified to do that."

"There's tips all over the Internet. Most people don't rush to the ER every time they hit their heads," Charlotte said through her teeth and fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"She's a genius, Mom. She's qualified to do anything," Jasper said. He headed for his room, bumped into the door and Charlotte moved it and tried to help him out. "And she loves me!" Jasper called out. "More than we could say for you," he muttered.

"Jasper, please." Charlotte said softly. She didn't want to get kicked out. He might be hurt and she wanted to make sure that she was around to get him help, if he needed it. He was fine, though. Physically, at least.

Charlotte was bothered about how Jasper felt. Hearing that his stepfather called him "stupid" was bad enough, but "stuck on stupid" was just ugly and mean. She hated the way that they made him feel. Recently, she realized that Jasper cried a lot. He let her know that she was the first person to know and see it (since Henry when they were younger, and even since Henry most likely thought that Jasper no longer did that). They all knew that his mom sent him mixed messages about whether or not she actually loved him and from his little outburst earlier, Charlotte guessed that he had at least subconsciously decided on the belief that she didn't.

One of the reasons that their relationship had worked in the beginning was because Charlotte was extremely harsh with him and pretty mean. Honestly… it embarrassed her to think about how she would speak to him. Even sometimes today, if she said something with an attitude, in the back of her mind, she wondered if she might be adding on to his drama/trauma with his mama. So, now… she tried really hard to be less condescending and gentler. She tried to be more complementary whenever he frustrated her than accentuating whatever he was doing to get on her nerves. He still got on her nerves A LOT. He just had certain ways that were very different than what she liked.

In their round robin spiral, instead of an update, Charlotte simply wrote Jasper a little love note that read: _Now that I know that you're okay, I'm hoping that you sleep well and wake up okay. The most important thing is that I wanted you to know that I rebranded that thing from you know who. _

Then, she drew a little doodle (she wasn't great at drawing, but she made an attempt and since it was lettering, it was better than her actual drawings), which read Jasper TBD Dunlop: Stuck on Stupendous and had a little Jasper drawing smiling and giving the thumbs up. Then, she kissed the bottom right hand corner and autographed it. It was a light pink color, because she only wore gloss, but she opened the book so that he'd see it whenever he got up. Then, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and fixed his hair, even though he was sleeping.

On her way out, she said, "I think he's fine, so he's gone to sleep, now and Piper Hart is outside to pick me up. So, goodnight."

"Goodnight," his mom said.

Charlotte nodded, then stopped at the door and said, "Look. I don't know why you don't like me. I don't know why you think that I'm bad for him. I don't know what I might have done or said to give you the thoughts and ideas that you seem to have of me. But, I also don't care. I don't care what you think or how you feel or even how you try to treat me. But, I do care how you make Jasper feel, and I wish that you would take the time to care about that too. Now, good night."

His mom looked offended and bothered, and maybe she had just made things a billion times worse, but maybe she had helped. If she had, it was worth how uncomfortable she felt having to say that to this woman.

By the next day, at work (Charlotte came early, so she didn't meet up with the guys), but whenever they came in, Jasper immediately wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you," he said.

"For what?" She wondered, blushing.

"My mom told me what you said and she was pretty heated about it. Asking me what I'd been saying to you and if I was making her look bad." He laughed.

"That doesn't sound good," she said.

"It was pretty bad, but I appreciate that you stood up for me. That's super important. You're the best. Also, I sent your artwork in to 1 Hour T-Shirts. I ordered it in seven colors."

She gasped, "Jasper! That was just for you!"

"Yeah, so doesn't that mean I can do what I want with it?" She scoffed. He smirked and kissed her on the neck.


	13. Senior Week

_Yo. chenoahchantel… This went in such a different direction than what we discussed some weeks ago. Mane. I cannot keep angst out of my business!_

**Senior Week**

They had gone to prom together, as previously planned. Henry didn't feel like a third wheel because he and Jasper were out on the dance floor a lot more than Charlotte was. If anybody was the third wheel, she felt like it was probably her. They had taken hella photos in the Man Cave, for Ray, obviously, because who TH else would be able to see those? He also took some in the store, in case he wanted to share or display.

Then, they had to take some at each of their houses. Char in a silver dress with red and blue accents, Henry in a red suit with blue and silver accents, and Jasper in a blue one with red and silver. It was Captain Man's colors and the school colors, so they could excuse it away. Uncle Roscoe and Auntie Cohort were at the Pages for picture time, which made Henry feel weirded out. Jasper's mom was cordial, but Charlotte noticed how she was avoiding eye contact with her and focusing more on photos of Jasper and Henry. And, well… The Hart house was just like it always was - like it was everybody's house. Nobody felt uncomfortable and the photos there were the ones that they shared on their social media before the limo got there.

Afterwards, Jasper spent the night at Charlotte's, pretending to be at Henry's, Henry spent the night at another friend's, pretending to be at Jasper's, and Charlotte straight up discussed with her parents since she was about to graduate, was 18, and sexually active that she was going to have Jasper over, but promised to be safe. They were more comfortable with that than the alternative - her lying and sneaking away like her two best friends were doing to their parents, at the moment. The deal was that she and Jasper better not make enough noise for them to hear/become less comfortable with this arrangement. She agreed, even though she knew that Jasper had a bad habit of getting loud. So, she bought him a bite down pillow for those moments. They didn't even wind up doing anything. They were both so tired, they fell asleep shortly after showers.

Anyway, prom passed and the three took their senior pics together, as well. Same color scheme with as many different poses as were possible. The boys had blue robes while Charlotte's was red and she also had a silver sash with all of her honors accomplishments on it.

Charlotte's faves were 1. one where they were in their gowns and the boys had her lifted on their shoulders, 2. one with her in her letterman jacket, showing off the back, which read Chef's Kiss, Jasper in a cape with April 9, Jasper Dunlop Day, and Henry with his hands on his hips wearing a t-shirt with "And Henry!" on the back, and 3. one where Jasper was kissing her on the cheek and Henry was leaned in like he would kiss her cheek, but making a grossed out face instead.

All three had several together and several single shots too. They decorated their hats together and she followed whatever end of the year plans that they had made (when she wasn't busy).

Senior week came boys had been waiting all year for this, to be perfectly honest. Char wasn't as stoked until it came around. Charlotte's house was their regroup place, only because her parents were fine with the boys being there overnight. The Harts were fine with Char spending nights, too, but Char had two beds and Henry only had one that the three had to cram into when they all slept there. In past times, Henry and Jasper shared Char's spare bed, but now, of course, Jasper shared a bed with Char and Henry had the spare to himself.

Which, should have been more comfortable for Henry, but was somehow a little less so. For one thing, Jasper had a cuddle habit. If you sat near him, slept near him, you were gonna wind up a tiny spoon, no matter who you were, and Henry kinda missed the warmth of it in Char's freezing bedroom.

Whenever Henry couldn't sleep and woke up and glanced over, of course Jasper was a big spoon for his girlfriend. That was normal, for anybody. But… one thing caught his attention. Okay, more than one - like Jasper's arm was around her neck, kinda like a chokehold, but more like a choke hug and that was a kind of weird place for it, to Henry, but he couldn't put his finger on why. His nose was buried in the back of Charlotte's neck and you could hardly see his face beyond her afro, which… again… was weird, because he knew that Jasper snored and that Charlotte hated snoring. But, they were together now, and he did sleep over at times, so maybe she was used to it by now? However, the one thing that really caught his attention and even gave room for him to make a little gasp noise was where Jasper's other hand was. It was on her… well, you know. Cupping it, like. Like, one arm was hugging her neck and the other hand was hugging her…

Now, he couldn't sleep at all. Charlotte and Jasper weren't doing _that, _were they? Because… he was their best friend and he didn't know anything about the possibility. Charlotte always acted repulsed by anything physical, as far as he knew, but she had been pretty publicly affectionate with Jasper over the past months that they had been together… but surely one or both of them would have told him if they were INTIMATE intimate. Had he really been left out of this? Okay… He could totally see Char not wanting to admit out loud something like that, but Jasper told him everything? This was messing with his mind. How long had they been? He gasped again! He'd asked Jasper "what did you do to Char?" not too long ago and Jasper had simply smiled and LIED and said she was just nurturing. Hmph. Nurturing that D, was more like it. Well, well, well… He eventually fell to sleep but woke up with a start again. Were they doing THAT in that bed, while he was asleep? He looked over. No, they were just sleeping. Jasper was moaning or groaning or something. Having a nightmare, maybe? Charlotte rubbed the arm that was around her neck and that seemed to calm him back into a peaceful sleep… well, not quite peaceful with the snoring, but sleeping, at least.

.

Henry had tried to fish for information about it. "How did you two sleep? You looked awfully cozy."

Jasper smiled and said, "I always have my best sleep whenever Chef's Kiss is with me." She smiled too and collected her clothes to go into the bathroom and get changed. Jasper and Henry changed in the bedroom. Henry noticed a few things - Jasper had what looked like hickies on his chest, possibly bruises, but he was guessing hickies, maybe even bite marks? (Dude, Jasper was getting ripped! He hadn't noticed before now), and whenever he turned, he had what looked like scratches down his back! So they WERE INTIMATE intimate… and freaky to boot, because, wtf was this animalistic marking stuff? "You're shaping up. What have you been doing? Working out by fighting wild beasts?" Jasper blushed, but gave Henry a warning look. He wasn't gonna discuss what he knew Henry was trying to ask him about.

Charlotte came out before he had the chance to say anything else, though. "You guys wanna stop by the bakery or somewhere? I think we've got stuff to make breakfast if anybody feels like cooking. I know I don't."

"I'm not hungry," Jasper said.

Henry said, "I can grab something from the bakery." She nodded, packed her bag and gave Jasper an unnecessary playfully scratch on the belly, like she was petting a dog or something. _Why'd she do that? _He smiled and kissed her on the nose. Had they been this affectionate this whole time and Henry not noticed just how much, or was this a part of their new routine, since they were sharing privates?

Whenever they got to work, Jasper and Charlotte were in the store and Henry was down in the cave. He was watching them on the monitor. They were working. It was a normal day. They weren't all over each other or anything. Just, cleaning up the store and merchandising and such. Whenever Ray came in, Henry just couldn't resist saying something to someone about it, "Hey… So… You know how Charlotte's all anti-touching and all that?"

"I don't know if I'd say that. She's got a boyfriend who's constantly pawing on her," Ray said.

"Is he? I don't think that I noticed it before last night. Now, I can't unsee it! But, from what I saw, SHE goes to HIM for the affection!" Now, they were both observing the camera and the couple. Jasper was bending over, doing something and Charlotte, out of the blue tossed something at him. "Was that a quarter?" She bounced a quarter off of his butt and giggled. Jasper stood up abruptly, then smiled and sauntered over to her for a kiss, then they went back to work. "SEE? It was HER!" Henry said. "What did he do to her? He changed her, Dude."

"You know what that is? She's dickmatized," Ray said, simply and nodded his head. "Yeah. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but now that you've mentioned it, that's exactly what it is."

Henry's eyes were on Ray now. "I'm sorry. What?"

"Charlotte was always Little Miss Buzzkill, ruining people's fun and being generally uptight and disagreeable. She gets a new man and new lifestyle and loosens up, now she's bouncing coins off of butts on the clock. That's because Jasper's yanno… doin' her right."

"That's… shameful. Charlotte's not the kind of woman to be swayed by… by THAT."

Ray shrugged his shoulders and wondered, "Then why'd you bring it up?"

"I saw something last night and this morning. Well… last night, they were asleep and cuddling, you know, which is normal for couples, though weird to see the two of THEM in that light. But, his one arm was hugged around her neck, cuffed like, and his other hand was cuffed, was like… on her… well, it was…"

A look of realization passed on Ray's face and he snapped his fingers and pointed, "He was cuffin' the muffin."

"Did you say…"

"I said what you couldn't. He had her cradled to him like somebody was gonna steal her from him and he was cuffin the muffin!"

"He was cuffin' the muffin!" Henry repeated. He covered his face, embarrassed that he had just repeated such a thing. Ray gave him a single nod. Henry peeked at him through his fingers and asked, "So… I'm thinking… They're definitely doin' it, right?"

"Oh, nobody casually cuffs the muffin," Ray said. "Jasper's been hitting that for a good amount of time, if he's cuffin the muffin. I'm sure of it. Muffin cuffin is very profound, if you're asleep. Awake, it may just be tryhard. You know, cuffin the muffin to prove she's yours and looking like a douchebag. But asleep? That's some serious cuddle culture, cuffin the muffin."

"You can stop saying that, Okay? But… Charlotte's asexual and has never even been interested in anybody before now. Now, her first boyfriend, she's quarter off of butt bouncing and chest biting?"

"Chest what now?" Ray asked, way more horrified than he'd been about the cuffing.

"This morning, I see Jasper shirtless - he's gotten ripped, by the way,"

"Probably all the regular sex he's having with Charlotte," Ray injected, throwing a few pieces of candy into his mouth. Henry ignored the comment.

"AND he had these hickies or bites marks or bruises on his chest and he had scratch marks on his back. I joked that he'd been attacked by an animal and he just blushed."

"So they're INTIMATE intimate! Well, good for them. I love this new, loose Charlotte and Jasper's become extra cool now. Think they both just needed somebody bizarre enough to get them, to, you know… Be that comfortable with. What's the problem?"

"They haven't said anything to me. Neither of them. I mean, I guess I could've presumed, because they've been together what.. Like almost a year now? Like half a year, at least? I guess I thought they'd want to share news like that with me."

"Well… If they're in love and happy… You don't need to know the whys and hows, Kid. Just… be happy with and for them." Henry nodded, but he still felt left out. Ray laughed to himself and said, "Cuffin the muffin. I need to trademark that."

"You actually should look into that."

When the couple was back in the Man Cave, Henry was acting all weird, but Jasper had a feeling it was about his "passion marks" that he'd seen earlier. Ray kept laughing to himself, so Jasper presumed that Henry shared his bit of information with him. Maybe he should talk to his friend about things. "Hey, Henry, can I ask you something?"

Henry folded his arms and nodded, "Yeah?"

"Are you okay with me and Charlotte? I mean, I know you weren't really on board in the beginning, then you were supportive, but now you seem like you're back on the fence?"

"I'm good. Are you and Charlotte okay with me? Because you went from lying about having feelings for her, to getting mad at me whenever I tried to make sure she'd do right by you, to straight up just leaving me out and not telling me anything."

Jasper looked confused, "We talk all the time."

"Not about everything, though, right? I saw you two sleeping together. You were cuffin the muffin!" Henry said louder than he planned, causing Ray to laugh, from across the room. He lowered his voice. "You've got scratches and hickeys. She's bouncing quarters off of your butt. You've been going up the tube, and neither of you even mentioned it to me!"

Jasper squinted at Henry's choice of words. "Going up the tube?" He repeated.

"She's dickmatized!" Henry hissed. Now, Jasper took a step back and chuckled, trying to keep his cool. He didn't know if he liked Henry using a word like that to describe Charlotte. Now, if Charlotte had said it, that'd be a different story.

"Okay. Look… We are not gonna say stuff like that about Charlotte."

Ray and Schwoz came over, in case something juicy was going to happen. Henry went on to say, "Well, Ray is the one who taught me the word."

"And you just… repeated it?" Jasper asked.

Ray interjected with, "Jasper. We see how Charlotte has changed into a fun and caring person. We appreciate the work that you've put in… going up the tube."

"Stop saying that!" Jasper fussed.

"We appreciate the work that you've done," Ray said.

"I don't appreciate the kinds of friends you're being to Charlotte. She was always fun and caring. You just don't ever give her much of a chance because you're usually wrong about something and she corrects you," Jasper told Ray. "And you… She compiled your entire resume and made you sound good for college, when you're a C average student who's always late and misses a lot of days. She's had your back how many times in this very room? She never even really snaps at you or talks down to you…"

"I'm not the one who commented that she had improved since you've been doing the wild thing. I said that you two got together and shut me out!" Henry fussed.

"Just confirm that you are indeed doing her and I'll leave the conversation," Ray said.

"I'm not authorized to have that conversation," Jasper told him.

"So, it was Charlotte that made you keep this a secret from me?" Henry wondered.

"Charlotte doesn't MAKE me do anything! But, I'm not gonna just go around talking about what we do in private like it's some kind of casual pastime. The reason I never said anything to you about it was because it's nobody's business. It's not something that she's comfortable talking about, so I imagine she wouldn't be comfortable with me talking about it and I wasn't gonna violate her comfort that way and I'm not gonna risk her trust in me. I've worked too hard to win her over and I'm not doing anything to endanger something that's as sacred to me as this is!"

Charlotte walked up looking confused and wondered, "Hey… What are you guys talking about?" They all spoke at the same time.

Jasper: Boundaries

Henry: Secrets

Ray: Dickmatized

Schwoz: I honestly only caught part of this.

She sighed and looked at Jasper, "What happened?" she asked him, specifically. He just rolled his eyes at Henry and shook his head. He had said what he felt he needed to, and he could talk to her later about it. Instead, he changed the subject. "Hey! I need your help on a little business venture for the end of the year!" He said.

She looked at the others, dispersing, except for Henry, who leaned against the table and looked like he wasn't finished with whatever just happened. "What is it?" She wondered.

Jasper said, "Well, we all know that you are the resident genius who will eventually go on to do something amazing, SO, I figured we could charge people for you to sign their yearbooks, so that whenever you're famous, they'll already have your autograph slash will be able to pretend that you were friends before your rise to glory." He looked really excited about this idea, but Charlotte gave him a doubtful look. "I need you to do the actual signing. I do everything else, and you can tell me how much of the earnings you want for your labor."

"Jasper, nobody in that school wants me to sign their dang yearbook!" She said, laughing. "I literally only have two friends."

"Right, but you have clients on a waiting list. Here are all the people that I got to sign up for the offer who want me to contact them when you can sign their yearbooks."

He showed her a list on his phone and she stared at it, perplexed. "Why would you do this?"

"Because, I knew that I could convince people to purchase this product. This is their last chance to get noticed and acknowledged by you before you become a world renowned scientist or whatever. They want a piece of your backstory!"

"There's more people on this list than are even in our graduating class."

"Yeah. Because underclassmen know what's up too."

"How did you even? Did you like suggest this idea to people?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "I campaigned for the truth. You're going to be the next somebody special and they should be willing to pay to have you immortalize their yearbook. Here's the price list." He showed her another list on his phone.

"Whoa."

"We stand to make a lot of money. It'll really help me out. I don't have quite enough for my tuition next semester," Jasper said.

Her head looked up quickly and she wondered, "Tuition? You got word back and didn't tell me? Where are you gonna go? Swellview U or the Community College?"

He smiled bashfully and said, "Actually, I got in somewhere closer to you…" He showed her his admission letter and she squealed, jumping up and down and clapping, then rushed to hug him.

"Jasper! You didn't tell me that you'd only be half an hour away!" She said, and swatted him across the chest. Then she looked at Henry and asked, "And did you know?"

Henry looked heartbroken as he shook his head and tried to smile, "Sure didn't."

Jasper expounded, "After Char fixed up our resumes and made sure that I had included things like my Swellview holiday, my law changing efforts and protest, and alternative sports victories, with a few letters of recommendation from her parents, and digging up that my dad was in a fraternity, which would make me a legacy… I looked better on paper."

"Well, you've never really had a problem with book smarts," Charlotte said. "Especially social sciences, social studies, and language arts, and I can totally help you out if you have any struggles with science and math, since we'll be not too far from each other. Wait! Are you gonna pledge to your dad's frat, too? I mean, that's an excellent idea, because you totally would get in. You do stupid stuff for no reward around here all the time, Hazing should be a breeze, and think of the connections you could have!"

"I know. I considered all of that. It's awkward that I don't really know my dad that well and I used him that way, though."

"Awkward my big toe. He owes you SOMETHING. He's hardly handled his child support and he's not even pitching in for your tuition? Got you whoring out my signature.." She looked at him really fondly and it made him so proud of himself. She kissed him on the cheek and said, "I'm so freakin' excited. I'm gonna go call my mom about it." She pulled out her phone and started walking away.

Jasper leaned on the table next to Henry and said, "I wasn't leaving you out. I'm just trying to make sure that I focus on building with her. Before this, I didn't know what direction I was gonna go in. Now, I mean… It's not extremely clear, but it's clearer."

"Yeah, it's all good. I'm happy for you, just like you'd be happy for me. I just didn't realize that I was gonna have to miss both of you."

"We're 3 hours away. That's not _terrible._"

"I feel like once you start classes, plus having a serious girlfriend while in college, plus pledging to a fraternity…"

"Plus Dodge-oline and extracurriculars… and whatever job I find…" Jasper said, thinking about that part for the first time. "Aww, Hen. I'm sorry, I wasn't really thinking it all through."

"You were thinking about your relationship and your future with Char. That's what's important. You'll at least keep in touch, though?"

"Of course! And, we're not gone yet. We still have senior week and stuff."

"Are you gonna come to Senior Skip Day, now that you've dropped this news on me?"

"Nice try. I have perfect attendance on my transcript. I need every accolade that I can have!" Jasper said, chuckling.

The three of them left together to get to the senior banquet and Ray and Schwoz watched them get on to the elevator. "Henry's gonna be fine, right?" Ray wondered.

"Oh, I know… I'll try to hire some other likable kids around here to make him not think as much about those two."

"I can make clones… or shape shifting robots?" Schwoz suggested.

Ray thought for a moment, then waved a hand, "Nah! We'll just get him a cake."


	14. College Wasteland

_So, somebody was recently asking me about these kiddos' jealousy culture and whatnots and it just so happens and we get to see some of that in this chapter! Granted, a lot of this is zodiac information that I swiped from the web and forgot to cite. Not tryna plagiarize. Got 'em in quotations. _

**College Wasteland * Freshman Year**

Jasper and Charlotte were going to the same college, but on different "campuses." Honestly, she felt like this entire community was part of the college and even though there were a few blocks between where they studied, in between were really just dorms, apartments, college houses, and businesses that college students frequented. He was more on the outskirts of town and she was towards the center.

At the beginning of the semester, Charlotte already had her things moved into the dormitory that her scholarships were paying for. She was able to get in, unpack, settle in, bless the place and decorate before Jasper even figured out where he would be able to stay. He, too, was in a dorm, but one of the ones that people often rumored about how terrible they were, etc. It was all that he could currently afford, and he'd have to get to work very quickly if he wanted to be able to survive another semester!

"_**The Leo man craves fun and excitement and nothing is more displeasing than being home alone or with one other person."**_

Jasper honestly didn't feel above any particular type of work. He was willing to try anything, if it meant that he could buy all of his books for class and still eat regularly. He figured that his tuition and lodging were probably the most important, so that was what he paid first, then he remembered that he might need supplies, and he didn't even fathom the cost of books. Like… for what purpose? How could ANY book be worth what these were?

"Do you need help with anything?" Charlotte had asked him, a hint of concern in her voice as she stared at her worn out lover, this being the first time she'd been able to actually see him in a couple of weeks.

"No!" He said and laughed, shaking his head. He needed help with everything. But, he'd be damned if he told Charlotte that and made her worry, or worst - feel bad for him. "I'm just tired and I've missed you," he told her (which was true, even if it wasn't the whole truth).

"I'm sorry. I've tried to free up some time for us, but I put our schedules in my calendar and it's a biweekly, sometimes monthly match up possibility at best, for like, this entire semester." They both frowned, until she changed the subject, "Have you talked to Henry?" She asked, a little more cheerfully.

"Have I talked to Henry? I've hardly been able to talk to you! Have _you _talked to him?"

"Yes. We have free Wednesday nights, after I'm done with my lab, so that's the time that we have scheduled our phone calls. I'm thinking I'll probably head home every other weekend, for right now. Until I've adjusted, more, to being away. What do you think?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm working every weekend, so I can't come along. But, tell everybody that I said 'hey."

"You know… You could try to call them?" She held out her hands in a shrug. Jasper seemed a little moody or something. Maybe he was homesick. Maybe he missed Henry, the Man Cave, hell, maybe he missed his mom. She didn't know for sure, because he wasn't telling her something.

"Yeah, I know. I just don't really have anything to say, yet. I'm working two part time jobs, pledging to a fraternity, getting my ass handed to me by entry level college classes…" He shut up abruptly. He didn't want to spend what little time he had with Charlotte whining. But, he must've needed to vent, because he couldn't help but to mutter, "Maybe, I've overshot my capabilities with this." She furrowed her eyebrows and he immediately regretted admitting that.

"I don't think that you did. I think that you're selling yourself short right now, though. What are you having problems with? I can help you study!"

"You just said like 10 minutes ago that you'd only be able to see me like once every two or three weeks!"

"Can you only study with people in person? I was gonna do so over the phone or video call or something. You can even send me images of your chapter pages (or lend me your book) and I can notate what you'll most likely be expected to know."

"That… Sounds like you putting a lot into me not failing."

"Maybe. But, I mean… If you fail, we fail. We're a team, still, right?" She made a pouting face and he melted against her.

"Of course. Char… I'm… Everything's not okay..."

She nodded her head and stroked his hair with her fingertips as he rested on her tiny shoulder. "I could tell. But… You know that it's _gonna _be okay, right? You don't have to do any of this by yourself, Jasper. I'm busy, but I can figure out how to make time for you." He squeezed her tightly and then actually fell asleep in the cafe, on her shoulder. He hadn't really slept well since they'd been in college and he never got the chance to lay down with her anymore and well… *Snore sounds*

_**"During Happy times the Leo man can bring out the most of loving side of the Taurus woman and he can boost her confidence and self-esteem too. She in turn can offer him some grounded common sense for his more airy fairy grandiose plans and she supports him through thick and thin."**_

Yes, Jasper worked every weekend. He did overnight stocking at a home improvement store every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Yes, he also had classes on Monday mornings, and yes, he also had pledge things taking place during this time. His other job was simpler. He cleaned up at a tattoo shop right outside of campus Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Fortunately, all of his classes were on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

SO, if he got himself some sleep late Monday night, he slept well into Tuesday. He also slept late Wednesday into Thursday, and a few hours on Thursday night between closing the tattoo shop and Friday morning class, and a few hours Friday afternoon until his nighttime shift on Friday. Saturday mornings he slept unless he was asked to pick up a few hours at the tattoo shop. Sunday, he HAD to sleep all day, because once he got up for his night shift, he wasn't even going to see his bed again until the following night.

Charlotte had planned to spend every other weekend in Swellview, but the weekends that she stayed around campus, she asked Jasper if she could come over. He'd be asleep, but if he really wanted to sleep well, he'd NEED her there. Plus… they really didn't get that much time together, considering how close they lived to each other. Her first few visits, she was most concerned with the condition of his dorm. Not in the way that people rumored about - the crime in the neighborhood, or the alleged pests, and slow management. But… It was a mess.

When she got there on Friday, he'd told her that he'd be awake and waiting for her. He was asleep and she was fine with that. He needed that sleep, based upon his terrible schedule that she'd tried to talk him out of. She began to pick up his things and place them in mplaces that made the most sense to her. He didn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to this mess, but knowing Jasper, he probably did, or at least had gotten used to it and controlled the chaos mentally, somehow.

While she was cleaning, she accidentally woke up his computer and saw several open tabs of payments that he'd made, and a calendar where he was trying to figure out when to pay what. She took a seat in front of the screen and began to study the tabs and make some notes. She was there for a while, and eventually got up and finished cleaning. She returned to the computer a few more times along the way.

Jasper's alarm sounded on his phone and he jumped up and gasped when he saw a clean, organized room and desk. Charlotte came from the bathroom, cleaned up and a little dolled up, but in night clothes. "Hey, Sleepyhead," she said, positively glowing as she sat down next to him.

Jasper shook his head, "I'm so sorry that I fell asleep and we didn't really get to spend any time together!"

"I expected you to fall asleep. It's good, Jasper. I had a chance to get some things done for you that I suppose you haven't had the energy to do."

"Yeah. Sorry about that too. I should've cleaned up before saying you could come over. My punishment is now I probably won't know where any of my stuff is."

"It's in places that make perfectly good sense, but since I presumed that what makes sense to you is likely different from me, I made you a list." She pointed to the computer. He mouthed a thank you to the skies. "I also got all up in your financial business." He frowned. "Jasper, before we started dating, you'd ask me for help with anything in the world, from popping pimples to feeling how sweaty you are. I'm not sure why you didn't want to come to me for help with this, but whatever your reasons, I made some decisions for you. I set up a budget for you based upon what you have to pay and what you make. I set everything to automatic withdrawals from your account on dates that made the most sense. I also signed you back up for that text therapy, because you can afford it and you need it, so if that's too much of an issue, I'll just wire you the total every time. If you won't talk to me, I need to know that you'll talk to someone. Plus, I arranged for weekly grocery deliveries. There's a co-op place on campus that puts together nutritious grocery lists and you can add on or take away whatever they have for a certain additional fee. They deliver it to you at your convenience each week, even if your time slot changes. You just need to let them know at least 24 hours before the delivery. And, I've also allocated a percentage of your checks to go into savings, too. On this budget, you still wind up with an additional $200 every paycheck for whatever else."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, you can afford to pay your bills, eat, put some into savings and still have $200 left over… if your schedule stays the way that it is for the rest of the semester with your current pay. So… buy something nice for yourself or something. You deserve it."

"No, you deserve it! Thank you for this. I wouldn't have ever thought of that and I've just been eating on the run and buying the cheapest of everything whatsoever and…" He pulled her to him and kissed her.

"So, did I earn a little… something…?" She gave him _the look _and he knew it was about to be ON before his shift tonight. She deserved it.

_**"The Taurus woman can be very possessive in love and quite jealous, but the Leo man doesn't mind this. In fact, probably enjoys it and finds it flattering. In reality he is unlikely to stray far which is reassuring for the Taurus woman who is seeking stability and commitment."**_

The twelve weeks that Jasper was pledging to his father's old fraternity was hell. Not even because of the frat, but because of his personal life. He had gotten a little depressed working as hard as he worked and after a while, wanted to _at least _do something fun. So, he asked the tattoo shop owner about possibly becoming an apprentice. He was told to create a portfolio and after that, his boss would decide.

Jasper worked on some sketches in his little free time (usually at the shop whenever he didn't really have much cleaning to do), and whenever Charlotte came over on his weekends, he drew different designs on her. "Jasper, this isn't the same thing. Drawing on skin with a pen isn't the same as when you're drawing into someone's skin with a needle…"

"I know. I just need to practice what I can," he said. Charlotte ended up with all kinds of tattoo sketch potentials on her body over the weeks.

She was in Swellview and Henry nearly passed out, "WHAT is that?" He wondered. She looked in the direction of his eyesight and saw the orisha goddess she'd requested on her side, peeking out.

She laughed and raised her shirt a little more to show him. "Have you not been paying any attention to Jasper's twitflash? He's been using me as a canvas to practice sketches for a portfolio to be a tattoo apprentice."

"That's what those were? I didn't really understand what I was looking at." He opened the app to go check it out and wound up going through liking every single one of them.

"The apprenticeship would be unpaid, of course, but I'm hoping that he gets it, because once he gets a license, he'd be able to possibly make a lot of money. College kids are always at that tattoo shop."

"Yeah, these photos have a lot of comments about how people want him to do theirs whenever they get one," Henry said.

"People, or girls?"

Henry laughed, "Aren't girls people?" She rolled her eyes. "Uh oh, I feel like I missed something."

"So. He's past pledging now and living in the frat house. It's a little cheaper than his sucky dorm that he was in, so I'm glad for that. Plus, it's more space there for him, despite all the guys that live there. Now, all of a sudden, all these women know who he is and they just… irritate me, is all."

"That's all?"

"Yep."

"Okay, then." She could tell from Henry's face that he knew that wasn't the case, but he didn't press, so she spilled it herself.

Basically, during Hell Week, Jasper and other pledges were moving their things into the frat house wearing nothing but loincloths and sandals. Their sister sorority came out to ogle them and make unnecessary comments and whatnot and post pics and videos on their socmed. Charlotte never really got into the frat boy stuff that Jasper was doing, because it was frat boy stuff and she wasn't interested. However, as Jasper is Jasper, of course, some manner of calamity has to follow him around. This particular event it manifested itself in the form of a wardrobe malfunction while he was carrying a box. Several frat brothers expressed that it would be illegal to post any images of said malfunction, though everyone present had a good laugh about it, and at least 30 girls got a good eyeful as he had to set the box down then figure out how to get that little piece of cloth back around his junk… which Charlotte discovered from all the upcoming whispers is pretty nicely sized.

She didn't have anything to compare it to, so she figured that the size was great _to her, _but for some reason, other people knowing what he was working with and the increase of a following that he got afterwards, unnerved her. He always had women sliding into his DMs now and he laughed it off, but she knew that he liked the attention and it frustrated her that he did.

She wasn't trying to be that way, but in her mind, what Jasper had was hers and she felt like she needed to reinforce that to others on several occasions. Whenever the sister sorority pledges had Mingle Night and Jasper had to take off work on the weekend to attend, she was frustrated that he could find it in him to ask for time off for that, but not to go to Swellview with her, any of the trips that she had made. She made one comment about it, but wouldn't dwell on it, at least not out loud, anyway.

She usually skipped parties, so the time that he would make for social events, she either had to tough out a crowd of people that she didn't really care for, or wonder how his night was going and who was taking up his time and space throughout the course of it. She was the one who had to try to make more time for them. She asked Henry if it was possible for him to visit them, for a change in October and it became a practice for her to visit Swellview once a month and Henry to visit them once a month. (Henry rarely saw Jasper whenever he did visit, though.

"Where are we going?" He'd asked as they were heading deeper into the campus.

"The outer gym," she said.

"The outer gym?" Henry repeated.

"Yeah. Jasper has Dodge-a-leen training, then kite disc practice. He'll be happy to see you!" Henry made a confused face, because did she say "kite disc" practice? "Dude, you really ought to at least glance at Jasper's social media at some point."

"I don't even really have the time to glance at mine! I've been in college, too, Dude. Studying to try to be the heir to Junk N Stuff, plus training hard and working nonstop to take up the Man Cave duties. I only study during the week, sometimes on missions, because my time is so pressed. I do most of the night patrolling by myself. If you hadn't set a call schedule for us, I'd probably talk to you just as much as I get to talk to Jasper… HELLO!" He said upon coming to the crowded seating area and seeing a bunch of pretty ladies in the bleachers. Some of them had on practice uniforms - cheerleaders, drill team, pep squad, etc. They were practicing, or having meetings. Others just seemed to be there.

"Our spot is over here," Charlotte said. She had a spot. It was where several of the "alternative sports" fans sat. Alternative sports was what they were calling what Charlotte thought of as "fake sports" or at the very least "sweaty games." Like Dodge-a-leen, which should not exist, in her opinion, but did and had an entire team that would go to competitions, representing the school. Jasper met a girl that he did a tattoo for who played something called kite disc, which was like frisbee playing, but with a damned kite attached to the discs. Players had to fly the kite and throw the disc to a partner, who in turn had to do the same. She hated it. But, Jasper immediately loved it, joined the growing league and fought for a team to be formed on the campus. She still couldn't tell if she was impressed or something else about it.

As they settled into her spot, she asked Henry, "So, if you haven't talked to Jasper, I guess he hasn't told you about his new best friend?" She pointed at a tall, blond girl who was getting the equipment ready for kite disc practice while the Dodge-a-leen team was practicing several yards away. The blond girl waved at Charlotte and she waved back, hoping that her stank face wasn't on.

"Um, no. Jasper has no new best friend, but whoever that is, is hot." Henry admitted. Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Who is she?"

"They call her Ghost. Jasper calls her Casper, because he says that she's a "friendly ghost." She's an athlete here. She loves kites and discs, so whenever kite disc was created, she jumped in and she's the reason that Jasper took on another fake sport, despite his already busy schedule. They're together A LOT. Jasper and Casper. Everyone knows he has a girlfriend, but most people think that's her."

Henry laughed, then apologized. "Well, do you like her? Is she good people?"

"She's okay, I guess. I don't really know much about her. She always tries to be really nice. She loves all the photos that Jasper posts of me and she seems to be happy to see me whenever we cross paths. But… She's super close with my boyfriend, you know? And I know that shouldn't bother me, because Jasper is capable of having a platonic friendship with a woman in very close proximity. We did that for YEARS, but then again… it eventually grew into something else and now, even that is… changing." She said the last word so sadly that it startled Henry and he looked at her, watching Jasper, sweaty and pouring water down his throat now that Dodge-a-leen practice was ending.

"Hey… You two alright?" Henry wondered. She shrugged her shoulders. He felt bad that he didn't know more about this. These were supposed to be his two best friends, and while he was grateful that he still had regular contact with one of them (he and Jasper did talk, but only in small intervals, or very spaced out conversations, the last one being weeks ago). Jasper was rushing over to Casper. They hugged and immediately started talking and laughing. Hello hugs, huh? Henry couldn't say that was weird, not knowing whatever changes Jasper had made and not knowing Casper, at all. But, she pointed over to where they were and Jasper only just noticed him. He felt a way about that. Jasper smiled and came rushing over to greet him.

"Henry!" He cheered. "What are you doing here?" He didn't hug Charlotte, Henry noticed, but maybe that was because he was all sweaty. But… he was all sweaty when he hugged that other girl. Maybe she didn't mind?

"Ummm… Visiting. You took my friend's Swellview visits away, so I gotta come all the way here to see her and I guess you too," he joked.

Jasper looked like there was a slight flinch in his face for a moment, then he nodded and said, "I'm glad you're here. Where are you gonna sleep?"

"Char's dorm," Henry said.

Now, Jasper definitely looked a way. "There's more room in the frat house. You're perfectly welcome to crash there." Charlotte and Henry both looked surprised by that suggestion. He noticed and expounded, "I know we're all friends, but we're also grown, Bro. I don't really want you and my girlfriend sleeping in the same bed." He shrugged his shoulders and kissed her on the nose. "I gotta get back. We'll talk after." He rushed down the bleachers and back to the field and Henry was still stunned.

"Was… was he _serious?" _Henry asked. "You and me have been sharing a bed since before you even felt comfortable using the word 'friend' to describe him and now he wants to call dibs or something?"

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, "I mean, I guess he has a point, but it's not like with me and you anything would ever happen."

"Right. Even if either of us was remotely attracted to the other, neither of us would do that to him, or to our friendship! The nerve of him to suggest it, meanwhile, he's giving that one girl sweaty hugs in front of everybody, knowing that you're jealous of her and that people think that she's his girlfriend!"

Charlotte scoffed, "What do you mean, I'm jealous of her?"

"Don't try to play me, Dude. I saw it within five minutes."

She flared her nostrils. He was right. "Well, you know… Jasper doesn't always see the things that we see. He's you know… innocent in a way. Well, innocent isn't the right word. Naive."

"He thinks because the ladies gossip about his big old thang he's gotta come over here swinging it around?" Charlotte wanted to greet that comment with disdain, but she laughed, in spite of herself. Henry stood up, gesturing swinging around a big… package… and saying, "Don't get in bed with my girlfriend like you've been doing for most of your life. Sleep thirty minutes away at the jock campus for less smart people in the institution…"

"Henry, stop!" Charlotte said, suddenly not enjoying it anymore. "This is their campus! And… that's not even entirely true. This isn't a movie, Guy. If you wanna stay in college or on a team, even a fake sports team, you've gotta make the grades. Jasper has excellent grades. He's on the dean's list, here." Henry stopped and sat down, looking confused. "I help him study with the stuff he doesn't get and the stuff that he does get, he tends to take in right away, so…"

"You help him study science and math, right? And the dude that once said batteries was gonna be the next power source is on the dean's list?" Henry asked.

"Why do you do this to him?" Charlotte asked.

"What do I do?"

"You act like he's stupider than what he is. He's your best friend and you're talking about him like he's some brute that knocked into you at a bar."

"I think that you're maybe getting defensive. I was just fooling around. I love Jasp, you know that. It was honest fun. I'd pick with him the same way."

"Yeah, he doesn't like that. You know what he likes? Whenever people tell him he's great and awesome and they love to just be around him and don't fuss at him for getting sweat on them in his excitement to see them or crack jokes on stupid stuff that he's said impulsively, because he thought he had to answer right away. He's… already replacing you, Hen. For all we know, he's already replacing me." She messed with her fingertips. "He's not as… interested as he used to be… in… you know…" Henry frowned. He was always interested in that area of their lives, but he certainly didn't want to dive into it when they were having problems. "And I can't help but wonder if it's because here, I'M the lucky one. Here, he's a budding superstar. Everyone loves him. He's the life of the party, the heart of the team… I'm his uptight girlfriend who gets mistaken as his tutor, like all of the time, even with some of his frat brothers." She laughed a little, then wiped her eyes, feeling silly for feeling how she felt.

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"Not in these exact words. Because, they sound pathetic, right? I'm out here at practices for stuff I don't care about, just to get to spend more time with him. He has a ton of people to spend time with. I haven't made one friend since I got here. I mean… I've already got TWO! I didn't think I needed to add any, but he stays adding them in. Adding so many, I can't even figure out where I fit anymore…" She felt like she was going to start crying and looked like it, so Henry sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her to pull her in, in case she needed that. Jasper noticed, from the field and missed catching a disc, which the kite was taking away, into the sky. He quickly caught himself and grabbed a grounding shot (it was just a sticky ball, heavier than the kite that if you threw it and it stuck to the disc, it weighed it down enough to bring it back. He got it, then he looked at Henry and Charlotte again, frustrated.

_**Intimate relationships between Leo men and Taurus women can be a flip of the coin. Either or troubled, and not for lack of effort. The innate stubbornness of both signs tends to rear its ugly head here most frequently.**_

If Henry was staying at Charlotte's, so was Jasper, or if he had to ask Charlotte to stay over at the frat house to get Henry to stay, whatever, he wasn't gonna leave them alone together, though. Charlotte had been insecure lately. Jasper, to the best of his ability, tried to reassure her that he wasn't interested in any other women and that he wasn't "tired of" her. That was a ridiculous thought. Had their sex life been less powerful than when they first started? Well.. Yes, but both of them were extremely busy and they really were just kind of squeezing in sexual stuff where they could fit it. Plus, he felt like she was just doing it nowadays to thwart him from cheating or looking around - stuff he wasn't gonna do, anyway.

The best that it got for them was study sessions. Charlotte would make mock tests to help him study and they were multiple choice, which he answered by touching her in certain places. It was an amazing way to recall the information. He spent tests thinking about how it felt to touch her body and look into her eyes whenever she said an answer was correct and honestly… it was how he wound up getting all A's now. He'd never been able to do so in the past. He'd make A's in stuff he understood and be so far off on the stuff that he didn't understand that his mother thought that he was either cheating in most of his classes, or "mentally retarded at math and science," which he had to repeatedly tell her wasn't appropriate and not actually a thing. Charlotte had convinced him to take an aptitude test their junior year, but he got nervous and felt so weird about it that the results weren't accurate.

She got him to take another their senior year, at the end of the year and it was actually pretty helpful and put his talents into perspective. It made him more confident about finding some direction. Charlotte always added to his life and enhanced it. He didn't know what condition he would be in without her. He seriously thought that if they weren't together, he might be one of those people who was so filled with excitement and fervor who went into the world, got beat down and lost the light in their eyes. Instead, she magnified it. And yes, other people were noticing him, other women… but, he couldn't understand why she would think that would mean that he would notice _them. _

She still also had time for Henry. He hadn't been able to squeeze their best friend into his schedule, but figured that they both drifting away from him. Now, he felt like he was the one drifting away from them, and if he wasn't careful, Charlotte might wind up being Henry's light, instead. "That's crazy!" He told himself, brushing his teeth in the locker room after his shower. "That's crazy." But, if there was one man that he feared MIGHT be able to get Char's attention, it was Henry. He didn't like feeling that way, because he wasn't a jealous person, at all. In fact, Charlotte had accused him of not even caring if guys flirted with her (which technically, he didn't) because he figured that it was the same for her as for him - nonfactors. It was only when she looked uncomfortable or like she might be being harrassed that he usually jumped in, ready to defend her space and her comfort. Jasper wasn't a jealous person, no. But, he was extremely protective, especially of her. He wasn't a jealous person, until it came to Henry and her. He wasn't sure when it started, but whenever he saw them together, still happy to see each other. Still having fun, something possessive and territorial was stirred up in him.

He remembered things that he hadn't really thought about in years or cared much about whenever he had thought about them - how people used to always think they were together, how they were friends almost automatically and he tried to become friends with Charlotte because he was scared she might steal his best friend. Even though she didn't like him and never regarded him with warmth, he took a liking to her because she was Henry's friend, therefore, they had to be friends or he might not be able to spend as much time with Henry! And then there were the dreams that they were having about each other shortly before she and Jasper became a thing. He never knew for sure if Henry didn't actually have some feelings for her, the way that he kept trying to butt in when they were building their foundation. Now, they were on some shaky ground and Jasper just felt uncomfortable with Henry being there, with them like this.

He was overcompensating. He knew it, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. Charlotte… didn't seem as flattered as he was whenever she was acting crazy over him, but she didn't call him out, either. She just sort of gave him disapproving looks and rubbed his shoulders a lot to smooth him over. Henry was another story. They bickered about his behavior, then they went on to bicker about the time that they weren't spending together, and it eventually got to the point where Jasper said, "Our entire lives, I've had to be the one to always reach out to you, to come to you, to back you up and support you and be your friend. So, I decided that I was gonna focus on me a little bit more and you know what happened, Henry? We stopped being friends, because you can't even be bothered to toss me a like on Twitflash and if I don't call you first, THIS is what we have. We didn't drift apart. I stopped reaching out to you and now you're seeing just how much I was the one doing so." Jasper's fists were clenched and he added, "Charlotte's the only person who ever makes an effort for me, and just… Don't try to get in the way of that, okay?"

Henry was floored. Why would he ever try to…? Jasper got up, eyes red and damp, embarrassed and worried about how Charlotte would take that outburst. "I'm gonna go ahead and get out of your way and stop ruining everyone's good time. Call me when you get home safe." He dared a kiss on her cheek, but she was looking stunned, still. She followed him outside. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say all of that…"

She shook her head and threw her hands into the air, "Jasper… I understand that you're doing a lot of finding yourself and maybe that means that you and Hen don't make it, but… I have to admit that I'm insulted that you for whatever reason think that I don't have any autonomy in our friendship. Henry can't get in the way of what goals I set for myself. Henry can't damage something if it's something that I'm working on, and whatever issues that you have with Henry, you two can try to talk out, but leave me out of it. I'm not taking any sides of something that I have nothing to do with, with two people that I love. It's not fair."

"I said I'm sorry, Char. I'm tired. I have to go home and get some sleep."

"Okay," she said, sounding and feeling defeated. Jasper gave her a hug. A desperate, tight, but soft thing that she sank into and just wanted to vanish with him inside of. But, then it was over and he was walking away. She felt like he probably needed her to go with him and stay with him, but Henry was inside and he was the one who had traveled the three hours to see her when Jasper most of the time didn't travel the 30 minutes to do the same. She stayed with Henry and apologized for whatever that was. He brushed it off and insisted that he'd just do better, be a better friend. But, whenever he'd reach out to Jasper after that night, he was less available than before.

By the summer break, Jasper was definitely taking summer off of school, unlike Charlotte, who not only still had classes, but classes everyday. Henry wasn't taking summer classes, either. Both of them had a chance to squash everything. In fact, Charlotte suggested that Jasper spend some time in Swellview, since he'd have more time. But, Jasper didn't want to leave her when he finally had time to work on them. So, he was working and saving up for the upcoming semester, summer training for his alternative sports teams, doing community stuff with his fraternity since he was staying in the house but not in classes, and doing his apprenticeship too. His art was getting good. And people were super into getting free tats from Jasper Dunlop, aka Big Dog. Charlotte had gotten more used to sharing him with a fan base.

He began vlogging whenever he started his apprenticeship and called his channel ExJasperation, but still would use it if he ever decided to go back to podcasts. He talked about his friends, his frat brothers, his girlfriend. Charlotte didn't make the time to watch his channel, but she'd hear things about it whenever she was on the other campus, or in the frat house. She got used to sharing him with an audience. He enjoyed being noticed. He enjoyed the limelight. She just had to shrink back a little, to make sure that she didn't wind up in it. She didn't care too much for that. Not in these settings, at least.

She was doing great in her academic circles, though. Not getting close to people. It was more like being in a room full of loners who loved their fields of work and could muster up the energy to talk about that for a while, then go back to their own devices. Even her calls with Henry decreased and visits became less doable, too. Sophomore year, they spoke less and saw each other occasionally. Junior year… seldom. And Jasper hadn't really seen or talked to Henry at all, not including a few likes and comments on their social media every now and then.

Junior year marked a lot of significant changes, for all three of them.


	15. Who in the Hell Left the Gate Open?

**Who in the Hell Left the Gate Open?**

"Do you remember when you told me that you would never take me for granted?" Charlotte asked, early into sophomore year.

Jasper was on the couch in his dorm, editing a video and gave her a weird glance before asking, "Do you feel like I've taken you for granted?"

She folded her arms and shook her head, speaking angrily through her teeth, "Do _not _do that. If I ask you a question, I expect your answer. Don't ask me a question back. Answer MY question before you go posing questions of your own!"

Jasper's eyes went wide and he set his laptop aside, now sure that he was in trouble for something and guilty that he'd obviously upset her. "I'm sorry," he said, getting up and coming over to her. He rubbed her arms, to try to comfort her, "Of course I remember. That was our first time. It was magical. All I wanted to do was make you happy and give you the world. I said more than that. I said that I would never hurt you, take advantage of you, or take you for granted, and I meant that. If I've mistakenly done any of that, that's the part that I didn't mean… Are you okay?"

Her eyes were damp and he was trying not to panic, but he had never seen this look in them before, so he didn't know what that meant. Then, he was worried because he usually always knew what Charlotte's looks meant, even down to the smallest curves up her lips, up or down, he knew when it was disdain, disgust, desire or delight. "I've made a terrible mistake," she said, shaking her head. "I made a decision to give so much of my heart to you that I didn't think of how much I needed for myself. You were dealt a bad hand and I've done everything that I can to convince you that I love you, anyway, even if you thought that nobody else did. I wanted you to be happy, so I've tried to make you happy, and I miscalculated what would do that. I thought that because praise seems to be your love language that I alone could compliment you and you'd feel amazing and you'd love me for that…" Her voice was breaking and so was his heart. Why did she sound like that? What was she saying?

"I do, so, SO much…"

"Let me!"She finally unfolded her arms, to raise a finger to stop him from begging her not to do this… what it sounded like she was about to do to him… "You needed so much validation, and for years, the people you cared about didn't regularly grant you that and I knew, I knew, that I was one of these guilty parties that didn't build you up. I wanted to try to rectify that…" She wiped a tear with the back of her hand, "I wanted to be loving to you and whenever you became this larger than life presence, I tried not to be jealous and I tried not to dampen things for you. You deserved the attention. You deserve that kind of love, you know?" Her face was distorted in pain. Jasper covered his own with both of his hands. He couldn't think right now. His head was throbbing and his eyes were burning. _What the fuck had he done to upset her this much? She looked like she was going to collapse and he knew that somehow, this was his fault. She was saying it was hers, but that couldn't be right. She was just trying to be kind to him again. He'd fucked up and she was about to dump him for it… _"Whenever you blew up on Henry a few months ago…" He looked up at her again. If this had anything to do with Henry, he was going to put his fist through a wall. "I probably should have come after you. Maybe I triggered a defense mechanism or, or SOMETHING!" Her hands tried to clench the air in front of her, hoping to pluck the words for the feelings that were tearing her apart. "But, after that night, it went even darker. I'd come into a room and you'd be there, and it used to be that even if the room was full, we were the only people there. The room was always full… But I was the only person there. I made a mistake. I pushed you away, I guess? I just… I can't be in a room with you and be alone. I hate it. I hate looking at you and seeing how happy everyone makes you and not knowing how to be a part of that anymore." She clasped her hands together and shrugged her shoulders, "I thought of the two of us that I was the stronger one, because I'd had a stronger foundation. I thought I could handle these changes. But, now I have to be strong enough to let you know that I have to feel loved too, and I don't have fans or friends here… So, it's up to me, and I think it's best that I figure this out and give you the space to grow into this supernova that I see in front of me…"

Jasper clenched his fists, his entire body shaking and turned a bright red color as he nodded his head and lied, "I want you to do whatever you think is best for you." She nodded, wishing deep down that he had fought her on it, a little bit more, but trying to tell herself that the mature thing to do was accept how much he was trying to make this easier on her. He looked like a different person. She could hardly recognize him as he tried to collect himself. But, when she made it to the door and moved to open it, he reflexively stopped her.

He shut it with his foot, placed his shaking hands together like a prayer and begged her in a whisper, "Please don't do this."

"Jasper."

"I'm sorry. I tried to just let you walk away, but I'm begging you not to. I know that I never even deserved you in the first place and I should just be grateful that you ever saw anything in me, but… don't you love me? Didn't I at least earn **that** in all this time?"

"You know the answer to that."

"Can I show you something? Let me go get it. Please. And if it doesn't matter, I'll get out of your way forever and let you live your life without me."

"I'm not doing anything on a whim, Jasper. I've thought about this. I've tortured myself with making this decision. I didn't make it lightly."

"Please, Dear God - just a couple of minutes!"

"Okay. But whatever you have doesn't change what I've told you."

He rushed to get a small locking journal and opened it with a key on his keychain of keys. "I have a crappy laptop and I'm always breaking my phone, so I put this on paper, to make sure that I don't lose the information." He showed her a page, "It's my life goals. I started this whenever we got together." He flipped some pages for her. "It's so that I could try to be the man that I thought that you'd want and need me to be for you." She looked at it and read in handwriting that she knew very well from years of Robin's Telling, _Interesting ways to make Charlotte feel beautiful, that she'll appreciate. _And it was numbered and in the margins, he had checks and X's, because obviously, some things had worked and some hadn't. He was pretty hit or miss with ideas, but just the fact that he'd been doing this when she was thinking that he wasn't paying any attention to her..."I just need you to tell me that you still love me and I didn't fuck this up."

"I will always love you. And you didn't fuck this up.." She honestly said. That only made her feel worse. WHY couldn't she just be the strong person that she wanted to be? Why did she _need _his validation so much, suddenly? Was it her jealousy or had he really been neglecting her?

"I know I'm not meeting your standards. I know I'm not perfect and I know that even if I did everything in here, I still may never be good enough, but… I just have to know… don't you even think that maybe I'm worth trying to work it out with?"

She was crying now, reading: Make sure to do whatever I have to to make Charlotte feel like I love her with all my heart, everyday. She nodded. "Yeah, you're worth trying to work it out with." She said and dropped her bag onto the floor.

"You… does that mean you're staying?" He asked, apprehensive, trembling uncontrollably. Too scared to get excited without her approval. She nodded. She couldn't form words. Jasper dropped his journal to scoop her up into a hug and hold her closely to himself. He was still shaking in terror. She was sobbing against his chest. "I'll do better. I'll be better. I promise. I don't care what it takes."

… Perhaps… A little rewind is in order?

FRESHMAN SUMMER

Jasper changed shifts at the home improvement shop to a full time, daytime summer gig, so that he had his evenings free for practices, parties and the parlour. Charlotte was in class during the day, and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, so they had plenty of time together. It was going fine, good even at times. She thought that maybe they had gotten over the hiccup with Henry and that whole mess, but even though he said that he texted Henry and apologized and that they were "fine," she knew that they weren't good, because they weren't talking. Whenever Henry visited, Jasper would always invite Casper along, like he needed someone else there to have fun with… which made it feel like an awkward double date. Awkward because Henry and Jasper were supposed to be best friends and Charlotte was supposed to be Jasper's girlfriend! Henry didn't want to bring it up since he and Jasper "were fine," so whenever the four of them crashed at the frat house, Charlotte insisted that she and Jasper slept in his room alone and that the other two went and found an empty room or they could fight over the couch. She and Jasper went to bed, Casper crashed on the couch and Henry pulled into the bed on the other side of Jasper. Jasper didn't have a problem with it. He was between them and it was fine.

But, Casper was sprawled on the couch, topless with boxers on and Charlotte felt taken aback that she was that comfortable. "How often does she go around topless around you?" She squealed, before Henry and Casper could even leave the room good.

"I don't know. It's a regular thing for her. She does that wherever. She's been spoken to by the league for it on multiple occasions." Charlotte was even angrier that Jasper wasn't taking her frustrations about this seriously, but felt like he really did seem oblivious as to why it was a problem for her.

"I don't care if she walks into CLASS like that, she's NOT allowed to do it in here. In fact, I don't even feel comfortable with you hanging out with her in here by yourselves now. Does she play video games like that?"

"I think you're…"

"I'd you say overreacting, my reaction will be to punch you right in the nutsack!"

"God!" He said, cuffing his jewels, "I was gonna say misinterpreting…" Charlotte went on screaming and losing her mind with Jasper trying to talk her down up until he must've succeeded, because Henry and Casper heard them… making up…

Casper smiled and fist pumped the air, "My nigga Big Dog!" She said.

Henry gasped clutched his shirt. "You… SAY that?" He asked.

She laughed and shook her head, "Please don't tell me that you're gonna go off on a tangent about how I can't say that around you, because I've already heard that from him and you can just say ditto."

"You ABSOLUTELY can't say that around me!" Henry said, disgusted. "How dare you!" She laughed, unsure if he was serious. He positively was.

"Look, I grew up around nothing but Black people and I have them in my family and stuff. It's not a big deal to any of them…"

"I'm not them. You'd better be glad that Jasper didn't tell Charlotte you've said that around him. And honestly… I can't believe he still hangs out with you!"

"He knows that I didn't mean it like that, and I've never repeated it since he was so damn offended, like you're acting like now." she rolled her eyes.

"What are you like the girl variant of fuckboy?"

"Wouldn't that just be fuckgirl?" She wondered.

"I guess you would know. That's clearly your tribe."

She shrugged, "Like your tribe is Team Abandon Jasper?"

Now… Henry wasn't the type to hit a girl, but he was ready to punch this one right between the eyes. She was a tall, athletic type with tone muscles and a flat chest. She almost coul;d pass for a boy. He really should probably talk himself out of socking her in the nose. Charlotte came out of Jasper's room all happy looking, glared at Casper and asked, "Why are you still here?"

"My shoes are in there, Chica," She said and went inside.

"What, you grew up around a bunch of Latinx people too?" Henry called out. Whenever she was getting her shoes, Henry whispered, "She said the N word to me!" Charlotte gasped and turned around, ready to pounce on her.

Jasper stopped her and said, "Let her go."

"Let her go? Henry said she said the N word, I should be letting her have it. YOU should be letting her have it!"

"She didn't mean it _like that," _Jasper said. Henry scratched the back of his neck. "Her Black people let her say that around them like affectionately, and she forgets that not everyone is okay with that. It's not like that guy that accosted you that time."

"Unfuckingbelievable," Charlotte said. "You just pulled your penis out of me and had best believed, you won't be doing that any time soon!" She looked furious, gathering her things. She was madder about that than the tittygate from before. "And just so YOU know, from now on, the Black people get to decide if it's okay and my Black ass says NO. NEVER. I don't give a damn what her shucking jiving ass friends said. And if I see her around here, it's going down. And if I see her with you outside of a game or practice, you can just take your dick to her."

She stormed off and Jasper asked Henry, "Did you do that on purpose?"

"I didn't do anything."

"Why would you tell her that? You know that Casper didn't mean it like that."

"Man, fuck Casper. She's trash."

"I'm a trash magnet," Jasper said and shook his head, chasing after Charlotte. "Char! Char, please!" He caught her from behind in an embrace and she honestly couldn't fathom what he thought that he was going to say to fix that. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or make it seem like I didn't think this was serious. Honestly, whenever I heard her say that, I blew up. I cussed her out, I threatened her. I lost it. Okay? It felt wrong, and I reacted. But, then she and everybody else started explaining to me that I was overreacting, so I believed them. I didn't think that all of them were wrong and I was somehow right…"

"Who is everybody else?" She asked.

"The team."

"So, all of those white dudes that you spend hours and hours with convinced you that it was okay for her to say something that you know people have called me to make me cry? And you didn't think to ask me? Or mention it to me?"

"I thought that bringing it up to you would hurt you for no reason. She'd never say that to you, knowing how I feel about it."

"You are still missing the point… Jasper… Don't you want kids with me? You think I'd make kids with somebody trying to explain to me why a word weaponized against me, against them isn't that bad because she said it in a certain way?"

"No. This is all really making me realize I am an idiot and it'll never happen again."

"Funny, because I remember you pledging that you would never allow that. Henry jumped to my defense. You tried to talk both of us down. What is wrong with you? It's literally a slur. You're supposed to love me."

"I'll… go kick her in the cooter if I have to, to prove myself." The damage was done. That was two huge violations in one day, but he did stop hanging out with Casper and that took a huge load off of Charlotte. Casper tried to apologize to her multiple times, but she didn't bother with her. She blocked her and put her hand between the two of them whenever she saw her around. She stopped attending practices and games, if they really felt that way about that word, she didn't have any energy for them. Jasper stopped playing kite discs, too. He said that it didn't feel the same knowing Charlotte's take on using the word period. At least he was trying, she told herself. And white people often "get confused" about what was inappropriate. She sent him a post of Get Woke Quick ebooks and told him, "If you ever make a mistake like that again, I refuse to overlook it. He nodded solemnly and was reading all of the books by social justice activists and advocates about racism and antiBlackness in his free time. He started going to the campus events for movement meetings and stuff, which were actually on Charlotte's campus. She was in the Black Students Union, but it was extremely small and composed mostly of biracial Black people, because there was more of them in the area than all Black, and whenever he was going to meetings for rallies and stuff, he got really cool with some of the people that she introduced him to from the BSU… and a few of them asked him if he'd like to be their token white boy for their radio show. He asked Charlotte if that was okay. She was fine with it.

The next month of summer was awesome. She forgot to some degree the stuff that she had been rightfully pissed about and wondered about the things that she had been irritated by. Whenever she wasn't around so much and he was back into classes and busy and whatever else, was he gonna still be cuffing her closely in big crowds? Was he going to notice when she came into a room? She felt like she was punishing him for stuff that she never told him about if she'd attack him now, or stuff that he hadn't done yet, if the semesters were gonna be that way. So, she tried to enjoy the month and enjoy her man.

Sex was good again. She found that it was amazing whenever she wasn't troubled or worrying or feeling ignored, and Jasper was fueled by her desire. She'd gotten more aware of what she liked and wanted and more comfortable with telling him. He loved directions. It for one thing assured him that she would like what he was doing and for another, even though she was just telling him what she wanted, hearing her say these things turned him on.

SOPHOMORE YEAR

Shortly after the semester began, while they were "doing great," something else happened. They were getting ready to get down to business and Charlotte was practically begging him for it, whimpering and rubbing against him and pouting for him to hurry up and get started. Jasper went into his little nightstand and reached around, sighed and said, "Okay… I've gotta go snag a condom."

She was so busy pouting that the statement almost was lost on her as he scrambled to get up, but she sat up too and tilted her head, "We're out?" She asked.

"Yeah," he said, zipping his jeans up to leave the room.

"Wait. Why are we out?" She asked and a huge flood of fear and insecurity from the previous semester came flushing over her and her breathing caught. "Did you use them?"

"What? No! The guys come in and take them because they know that I always have them because I have the steady girlfriend…" He looked at her like he couldn't believe that she would ask him that and now that he thought about it, he was deeply hurt. "Why would I use them if you aren't there?"

She was thinking about topless Casper and a number of other girls' faces that she knew specifically from getting much to close to him and being much to flirtatious and him being much too cool about it. She shrugged and he sat back down. "You think I'd cheat on you?"

"I don't know Jasper. You let girls lay around topless in here and say the most hateful slur in the world, so I really don't know if you're ABOVE cheating. Maybe you did something and "didn't mean it like that."

He looked like she had punched him in the gut. "I thought you'd forgiven me for that gross misunderstanding on my part, and I never knew that letting a lesbian be topless was a big deal, especially since she does it in all kinds of places." Lesbian? So, Casper was a lesbian now? Suddenly? He'd never said that before! "Are you ever gonna forgive me for that, or do I have to bleed again anytime you strike me with it because of an unrelated coincidence?"

"I guess I'll have to think about that," she said and got up to leave.

"You're gonna leave like that?" he asked.

"You have something else to say?"

He shook his head, sadly, "Just that I've never cheated on you and I never would. I think about being with you any time that I'm not and I haven't seen anyone nearly as pretty since I first noticed you. The way you make me feel, I don't think I would ever be able to feel that anywhere else and I wouldn't risk it all for even the possibility, because if it wasn't with you, it wouldn't matter…" He laid down, looking all depressed and she felt bad. She went to comfort him and they wound up making up… bare… but she mentioned that she'd simply stop by the clinic for a morning after pill, which to Jasper meant that he could go crazy. And it was the most mind altering thing that had happened between them, thus far.

He was extremely excited, but she didn't know if that was because it was makeup, or because it was raw. But, he mentioned several times how good she felt and laughed about the idea of him ever wanting anybody else when his Chef's Kiss had gotten sweeter and juicier all summer. Her head was reeling. She was floating. She was high. Wrapped around him, nothing between them, hearing those declarations, she felt like everything that he was telling her that she was.

But, whenever they got back around other people… She felt like… not even he was there. Which led us to that blow up where she almost broke up with him. Almost.

.

That was a real come to Jesus moment for Jasper. He started wrestling and boxing, to try to supplement his athletics, and for a while, he didn't touch Charlotte… not like that, anyway, unless she seemed like she felt rejected, then he quickly tried to make up for it by loving her down in all the ways he knew that she loved. But, he was more focused on rebuilding their intimacy and regaining her trust. For a while, he felt like he was walking on eggshells, because he really didn't know exactly where he went wrong the first time and he was scared of somehow winding up on the wrong path again. The path that might lead to her crying as she broke his heart, for her own good. He had nightmares about that talk. He had nightmares that he woke up from and cradled her close, having imagined that it really happened.

He couldn't stomach the thought of messing this up and her leaving him. He couldn't handle losing her. He would have given up every bit of fanfare and whatnot if all he had was her and he didn't know how to make her see that. Then again, he had been constantly wondering for all of his life who he was and who he was supposed to be. He wondered if his dad had stuck around, if his mom hadn't remarried so much, if she'd loved him like Charlotte's parents loved her, would this be so hard?

He was used to being ignored for a long time, but it still hurt whenever he was. That was why whenever Henry and Charlotte were both working, even though he had other friends, he called them over and over, just wishing and hoping that one of them would love him enough to just reach out and let him know that he still mattered, that he hadn't lost his people. More than the idea of Charlotte leaving him and him losing her, he was haunted by the fact that he made her feel that sadness of being alone… of not having your people let you know that you mattered. That made him cry when she wasn't looking. He didn't want her to see him crying, because she'd try to comfort him and how dare he let her comfort him for being upset about hurting her?

Being the center of attention was like a drug to him. Having so many people to enjoy him, even if they didn't really care was exhilarating. But… it wasn't like being Charlotte's little spoon while she ran her fingers through his hair for the hands down best sleep that he could ever have, her little legs wrapped around him and her supple feet brushing the hairs on his legs. The crowds couldn't compare to that 'boozy mahogany flush" of her face whenever he kissed her behind her ear and the baby hairs on her neck shifted ever so slightly and the tingle sent shivers through her and forced her to smile that smile that brought the sunrise to shame. That she thought that she didn't belong in his world anymore, not knowing that she was his world was… it had to be a failure on his part and he couldn't stand for it. The fact that he'd missed it, in his reveling in attention was frightening, and he wanted to place a fraction of blame on Charlotte for not telling him sooner, but, he was too afraid that things were too volatile for that conversation. He did ask her gently, though, "Do you think if I ever seem to be making you feel some kind of way, that you could tell me and let me try to fix it?"

This sounded familiar. He'd asked this of her before, in high school after she'd run to Piper with her rants. But, they had been through a lot and she had felt like she was actually ripping her heart out of her chest when she was considering ending things, so this time she said, "I promise that I will."

"Will you… If I go to meet up with my dad, will you come with me?" He asked. She looked surprised. He explained, "I know my mom's side of things, but I also know the kinds of behaviors and habits that came from her and how we interacted. I just… want to see if seeing him could help me figure myself out."

Charlotte felt super guilty. Like she had broken Jasper, or something. He was so… timid in those days. "Yeah. Of course. And Jasper… You don't have to be scared to be yourself. I just wanted our growth to be together, and I felt like you'd outgrown me. I was scared, but you don't have to be. I'm not gonna leave again without giving you a chance to fix it… if anything goes wrong again. I just… wanted to feel like that girl who was up before sunrise making breakfast for a boy because he was the sweetest, more caring boy that she ever knew."

"And I just wanna be that boy, but you know, in man form. Maybe I should grow my mustache back."

"I will kill you," she said.

He laughed. "Why are you such a hater? Everybody loved it except for you. It was unanimous. Piper loved it and she hates everything."

"It's your face. Grow whatever you want."

"Is it gonna affect how you look at me?"

"I'm gonna look at you like you have a big stupid mustache on your face, just like I did last time." He laughed and she shook her head, "Either commit to growing a beard or shut up!"

"Oh, you want me to grow a beard?"

"I mean… I wouldn't be against it. I'd have to see how that fares with the whole, your face spending time in between my legs thing."

"I would like to see my face spending time between your legs again, just… you know, just 'cause."

"You just stopped! I thought I'd given you performance anxiety and didn't want to put any pressure on you."

"I feel extremely relaxed right now," he said, shifting her legs and living for the smile of anticipation on her face. They were good again. They had some hiccups, some missteps, hell, even a trainwreck, but patching things up was even more fulfilling than the days that they thought they wanted to return to - when they weren't sure of themselves or each other and bumbling through trial and error to reach something that it took a lot of work from both of them to have. At the end of the day, if anybody could analyze and understand someone/something, it was Charlotte Page, and at his core, he desperately wanted someone to understand him.

.

Charlotte's last visit to Swellview, Jasper came along, to go see his mom. He hadn't seen her in person for over a year and she was guilt tripping him about it, but he clarified for her that he was gonna be staying at the Pages but would stop by to see her. He didn't stay very long. He tried to at least give her a few hours. Being away from her had made being in her presence again a supremely unsettling feeling. Charlotte told him that he probably finally knew how she felt around her. "How is Charlotte?" his mom asked.

"She's good," Jasper said.

"Everything's okay?"

"Yeah. Everything is awesome. We're better than we've ever been," he said. She made a face, like it was surprising. He tried not to get angry about that and instead took the time to brag about her. "She started an initiative to preserve land to cultivate for community gardens in food desserts. My frat prides itself on being sure to have at least one member of every sports team in the school, so I was able to convince them to get their teams involved in efforts to assist with those." He didn't add on how long she loved him down for that accomplishment, but nearly every brother in the house commented on how they were both extra loud the previous night and reminded them that some of them had classes in the morning. Jasper had transported back to that night and morning. Charlotte and his sex life was good, but whenever he accomplished something or made her proud, he found that was a major turn on for her, SO… guess wtf he was constantly trying to do? Outdo himself, that's what.

He still had a lot of outside attention and "fans," but if Charlotte was there, he had her right by him, so she wouldn't be lost in the crowd or feel left out, often cuffed to him, but if not, ever so often, he'd smile at her and kiss her on the nose, or behind the ear, or caress the back of her neck. Those were things that made her weak, so if he casually sprinkled her with them all night, it was as intimate as if nobody had been there. She felt included and she felt loved and he still had the chance to kick it with his bros… he created some boundaries with his lady friends. Some of them would get pissy about it, but most were just as infatuated with his relationship as they were with him as a person. They wanted somebody LIKE him, not him, because if he could be taken away from his adorable long term girlfriend, they didn't really want somebody like him, anyway…

"What are you thinking about?" His mom broke into his thoughts.

"How much I love Charlotte." She rolled her eyes and he narrowed his. "What are you thinking about?"

"How your father told me that you found him online and want to meet up with him," she said. He froze. "Were you gonna tell me?"

"No. I didn't think it was your business."

"How not, Jasper?"

"Because, I'm grown."

"Well, do what you want. But, I doubt he's any less toxic than he was when I was forced to leave him." She got up and left the room. Jasper waited a while, went checked on her and.. She had gone to bed. He left and didn't plan on coming back any time soon. In fact, he needed a complete realigning or something after being inside of there.

Uncle Roscoe's house was fortunately the right ambience. There was incense and good food and they had gotten a calming fountain in the family room that played music and lit up various ambient light colors. Plus, Uncle Roscoe made juice and Jasper loved his juice. Aunt Cohort and Charlotte were somewhere getting fish to eat dead skin off of their feet and Uncle Rox wondered, "You getting ready to ask her about it?"

Jasper smiled brightly, full of food and juice and sleepy from the mood of the room, "What?"

"You know what."

Jasper sighed and leaned forward in his seat, "We had a rough year, well… a rough year then a rougher year of getting back to good because of the first rough year."

"I know. I pay attention to the songs she posts. I knew y'all were goin' through it when she posted Karyn White's Superwoman with the caption, "On Repeat Forever."

"I don't know what that is, but I think I've fixed things…"

"Yeah. I know. Like I said, I pay attention to the songs. If you would've remembered my advice and paid attention, you'd have had a less rough year."

Jasper nodded, "I regret so much of my decisions for that time. Did she tell you about the night things hit the fan with Casper?"

"She don't tell me nothing, Lil' Nephew. But, I think that she's ready to settle down. She talks about your future a lot."

"Yeah, but… I'm the one that wants all the family stuff, she only will do all that because I want it. I'm not gonna rush her."

"Don't rush her no… But, don't let her get away, neither." Jasper nodded his head. Uncle Rox gave the best advice. She was never gonna get away, if Jasper could help it.


	16. Lady and the Tramp

**Lady and the Tramp**

After the sophomore summer, Charlotte knew that she wasn't going to be able to make anymore trips home. The amount of lab work that she would be doing, the conferences and a lot of the other workshops and stuff she had to do would pull most of her time and being Jasper's #1 Fan would take the rest. He had several competitions, matches, and games. She was skipping every boxing match, because she didn't want him doing it in the first place and had even told him that he should go back to kite disc, but without him, the school's team dissipated and he didn't have the time to commit to the league again.

Whenever it was Dodge-a-leen time, though, Charlotte was in the stands in brightly colored high waisted leggings with a Big Dog T-shirt, tied up in the back, and dog makeup on her face. She could do that deep voice barking that the fans often did, but she gave it a shot. With her tiny voice, it always stood out and everybody began calling her "Little Dog," which Jasper loved, because that was his girl. She… had mixed feelings about it. She didn't know that she cared for the nickname "Big Dog." Henry used to call him that sometimes, but this was different. This nickname had come about from something that she still found embarrassing, though Jasper never had taken it as such. And also, she felt like Little Dog was a hop, skip and jump from being his bitch, and well… She guessed as long as nobody ever said THAT, she was fine.

Besides, he still called her Chef's Kiss and she now called him F Sized. She didn't explain it to other people, as it started out as a little inside joke during one of her sexy study sessions with Jasper. He couldn't get the answers right, therefore wasn't allowed to touch the parts. That was how it worked. A was her backside, B was her chest, C was down there, and D - he was able to take her hand and put on his down there. But, if he wasn't getting the answers correct, there wasn't touching. She moved or stopped his hand if it was going to the wrong spot. He was struggling with the mock test and began grumbling about how he'd "cockblocked himself with stupidity."

While stupidity definitely was a turn off, Charlotte hadn't viewed Jasper as stupid in a long time and she certainly hadn't called him that ever since finding out that his stepdad did. Whenever he called himself that, she verbally redirected him. This particular study session, he said, "I have a humongous head with a stupid tiny brain in it."

"You're not stupid and if you were, your brain wouldn't be smaller."

"It is though. You know brains develop differently when kids have trauma, remember?"

"Yeah, but…" She fumbled over her words and managed to say, "I love your fun sized brain!" He loved that compliment. Fun Sized Brain was his new handle on Twitflash because of it.

"I appreciate that you said fun sized, because that is actually exactly what I think of your cute little body as!" She frowned. He smiled and explained, "Because you're petite."

"I got it."

"You have a full sized heart, though!"

She smiled and shook her head, "See, I would have called yours friend sized, but I dig that full sized still fits the alliteration scheme."

He took her hand and placed it on himself, "Mm hmm, and what is this sized?"

"Fuck sized," she said, without a pause and they both started laughing. "By the way, the answer is D, so I'll count that as correct."

"I don't remember the question…"

The only person she told the meaning of Jasper's F Sized nickname was Henry, and she'd said, "Because his brain is fun sized, his heart is friend sized and his manhood is fu…"

"Let me stop you there, Champ," he said, laughing and shaking his head. "I'm glad that you two fixed everything. You're not worried that it might go off track again?"

"No, we've done a lot of work together to make sure that we're actually on the same page and have the same goals for us. PLUS, I got us affirmation journals. We decorated each other's and we keep them, filling them up with greatness as we see it - like the good things we notice about each other, the positives that we see and the accomplishments made by one another. If we have negative times, one can invoke the affirmation journal and either read in it to reaffirm ourselves OR, if we're that much in our feelings, the one of us that hurt the other will read affirmations to the hurt party. We haven't had to use them… much, and we've both written a whole lot inside of them."

"So, you two just carry around paper books and write every good thing in it that you can think about each other, so that if you argue, you'll have the positives on record already to counter the bad feelings?"

"Bingo!"

"That's… brilliant. Your idea?"

"Sort of. It was my idea to make it into this type of practice, but that was motivated by how Jasper got me not to break up with him. He let me see his life goals journal and I saw these really beautiful things that he'd written about me and it changed my heart. So, I thought of this idea for us to make a part of our love culture."

"This is so stinkin' cute. I can't even bear it!" Henry said with heart eyes. "Ugh. I gotta find myself a lil' nerd girl."

"Find a lovable jock," she advised.

"Jasper's considered a jock, now?"

"I mean… he's involved in the athletics program. Let me show you something, I think you'll appreciate this.." She dug around for a book then showed it to the video call she had open with Henry. It was a red leather bound book with various rocks attached to it, kinda like it was bedazzled, but not with sparkly rocks, and the title was scripted on in some of Charlotte's nice scripting: **Jasffirmation Journal. **

Henry gasped, "You did a fun pun!"  
"I did!" she cheered.

"That's a nice journal. What are all those rocks?"

"Those are various forms of jasper that I procured myself on an excavation assignment."

"You're freakin' awesome, Char."

"I definitely agree with that, but thank you!"

"I gotta see what his looks like," Henry said and texted Jasper to ask him to send him a pic of the affirmation journal he kept for Char. Within minutes, he received it. "OH MY GOD!" Henry said. Charlotte just smiled as Henry fawned over the realistic sketch of Charlotte with stars in her hair and coils that spelled: **I'm Charstruck. **"He did a fun pun too!"

"We worked with you and Ray for way too long," she said.

"You're welcome," he said, putting his phone aside. "Man, Jasper's drawing is amazing. Is he taking art classes?"

"No. He's a tattoo artist, though. Remember?"

"OH! He finished his apprenticeship. That's cool. Will tattoos money put him through school?"

"One of his accounting major frat bros has helped him with his budget, which I used to do but hadn't had the time to try to reorganize it, so this guy did. Jasper gets some funds from his fanbase, and he gets free stuff from local businesses and companies - like he's got all this merch that he basically is a walking ad for and I keep telling him to see about talking to someone about sponsorship, but he's just happy to get free stuff just for being popular and likable. I'm like, you can get paid to get free stuff for the same thing, Dude! So, he is doing just fine."

"Does he have any tattoos? I'm not gonna get a tattoo from somebody who doesn't have a tattoo, just on principle."

"He's got a few little ones," she said.

"Really? What of?"

She smiled and sent Henry texts. She had photos of Jasper's tats. The one on his arm, which was a blend of a lion and a bull with touching faces (because those were the animals of their zodiac signs and he'd designed the drawing), a Captain Man symbol on his left wrist, small enough to cover with a watch, if he had to for work or something, and the back shoulder that had Lady and the Tramp characters. "Dude… what?" Henry said, "Two of these are kind of big and why in the world did he get Lady and the Tramp tattooed on his body? Does Jasper realize that these are permanent?"  
"Yes, he does. He's not an idiot. He got Lady and the Tramp because of the whole Big Dog, Little Dog thing. Lady and the Tramp is us." She blushed.

"Awwww, well then it's cute. I thought that he just liked the cartoon or something." It's shocking that he doesn't have your name or something on him." She shrugged her shoulders. "Does he and you just didn't show me?"

"No. But… he's mentioned wanting to get a tattoo of me over his heart. I don't know how he can. His chest is an erogenous zone for him."

"His… OK! That makes all those hickies on his chest make more sense now!"

"Those what?" Her eyes were wide. How the heck did Henry know that she'd put hickies on Jasper's chest? They DID discuss their sex life!

"I saw hickies all over him one time, senior week and he wouldn't say anything about it to me. And scratches on his back. Is his back an erogenous zone too?"

"No. I just used to have a real problem keeping control of myself when I was finishing. But, he actually likes that kind of stuff, so win-win, I guess. Why are we so casually discussing this?" she wondered.

"We're friends and it's normal." She nodded. She hadn't really thought to discuss stuff like this before outside of Jasper, but it came out surprisingly smoothly when talking to Henry. She was able to talk a little more about things with him. But, they wouldn't be able to see each other in person for a while. Their schedules were simply too demanding. She hated it, but it was one of the things that she'd mentally prepared for whenever she first left home.

.

_Women make up 56% of the college population. 25% of college seniors are virgins. 32.5% of college relationships are long distance. 1 in 4 college students have an STD. 63% of college women hope to meet their spouse in college. By senior year, 72% of college students have hooked up. ⅓ college students have been on fewer than 2 dates. __Quick Facts: One of the top reasons college students break up is cheating. College students prefer short-term, casual relationships over long-term relationships because it allows them to focus on their academic and career goals. Most college couples break up around __spring break,_ _summer vacation, and right before winter break. 28 % of married college graduates attended the same school, but only 2% of North American marriages are comprised of high school sweethearts._

_With numbers like that, it was really easy for me to believe that with Jasper's personality and follow through that we couldn't possibly be a part of that 2%. And even if we had been, what about those other stats? How much of it would be applicable. Wouldn't one of us hook up with someone? Wouldn't someone cheat? Wouldn't we break up? For a first time relationship to be the last one that you'll ever have, these possibilities become more or less likely dependent upon what stage in the relationship I was in. It was a fluctuating scale, to be honest. But, by junior year, I definitely felt like I was in a confident place._

_Jasper makes me proud, all of the time, His thinking has become much more critical. His plans make more sense. His ability to manage his time has improved. He's been calling himself a "Textbook Leo," which has been annoying, because the traits that you didn't see before, it's like he tries to make sure that he has them now. That's fine for some things. Silly for others. But, he's very focused and he's going to be a very accomplished man. I believe that with all of my heart. _

One of the last times that Henry was able to visit was whenever Charlotte first moved into her new apartment after Rush Week. Jasper helped her to pack, but got the pledges to move all of her things. The apartment that she found was closer to Jasper, in a nice sized townhouse style apartment within walking distance of the frat house, but of course, the guys had to go to another side of town to grab her things from her previous dormitory. Jasper's little brother was responsible for overseeing - making sure nobody damaged or tried to steal anything, holding on to the keys of her dorm, and personally handing them to her after her things were cleared out and he'd locked up. Charlotte liked him. She was the reason that Jasper had selected him and he was closer to her than to Jasper, but only because it was hard to get close to Jasper, especially now that he believed himself to be a king.

Henry helped Charlotte to unpack, wishing that he still had that hypermotility. Dang, that would have made this a breeze. Charlotte had a lot of stuff and she was very particular with how she set things up. One area that he was intrigued by looked like a shrine of sorts, with a shelf in the middle, and she hung a photo of her and Jasper above it. "What is that?"

"My gift center," she said, setting things there from a box marked _Gifts From Jasper. _"I keep stuff that Jasper gives me in an exposed and visible area. It helps the room to have a good attitude." He made a confused face, but didn't want to even ask. "I can feel the energy in these gifts, because I know the motivations and the emotions behind them," she explained.

"You becoming all metaphysical on me?"

"Not all, but I definitely feel like… energy is something that can be manipulated by certain objects and intentions. Like, you ever meet someone and you can just feel that something is off about them? That's how I was with Casper and I was absolutely correct about her, even though for a whole year she was nothing but pleasant to me, I knew that there was some negative vibrations there."

"You do like tarot cards and stuff?" He asked.

"No. I don't know enough about that area of spirituality and I honestly don't feel like committing the time to learn."

"Dang. I was gonna ask you to do a reading for me," Henry joked.

"We can go to one. There's a girl in the BSU that does them. I feel like she's the real deal. She grew up in Louisiana in this matriarchal witch family. Though… I don't know if witch is the right word. I can't remember what she said. Jasper might, though. He's fascinated by that stuff. They have an entire segment on the radio show for African spirituality and diaspora practices."

"I… we should get a reading, just as a gag."

"You don't do it as a gag!" She complained, shaking her head.

"Okay, we can do it for real, then."

"Well, I'll have to see if she's available. She has an online business, where she prepares spells and herbal roots and oils and jewelry and stuff. I'll check her prices for the readings." She grabbed her phone and Henry kept unpacking. They were bringing the empty, broken down boxes to the recycling bin whenever Jasper's truck pulled up. They heard him before they saw him. The truck was always so loud, but it was old and cheap, so that was why he had it. He didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that he only planned on driving for now. Charlotte began buying her reliable but affordable car in high school. She made regular payments on it to try to help build her credit and by the time she was ready to leave for college, it was paid off. It was a metallic gold hatchback and had horse decals on it. Jasper's big orange truck had all kinds of bumper stickers and window stickers that he'd peppered it with. Henry turned up his nose, "Why is it orange?"

"That was the cheapest thing that he could find when he was looking, and he loves it. He says that he's always gonna have orange vehicles, now."

"WHY?"

"Probab;y because he's an attention whore," she said.

Jasper had a pretty booming speaker system in the truck and was blasting music, because that helped him not to hear the troubling sounds that the truck made. He turned off the car and got out with a little box, "Hey, Henry!" he said and waved at him. "Chef's Kiss…" He slid the box to Henry and wrapped his arms around Charlotte. "Did New Henry give you your keys?"

"Yes," she said.

"Did who?" Henry asked.

"His little brother," Charlotte said.

"His name is Henry too?" Henry asked.

"No," Charlotte said, but left it at that and asked, "What's that?"

"A homewarming present," Jasper said and took the box back. It made tiny whimper sounds and she noticed it had holes in it.

"Housewarming, and Jasper, is that a living creature?"

"You don't have a house. You have an apartment, and no.." he opened the box and said, "It's TWO living creatures!" She looked to see two very adorable puppies with collars and tags… "Lady and the Tramp!"

"Wow. All I got you was a cake."

"I prefer cake," she said, then to Jasper, "Jasper, you cannot just give people responsibilities as a housewarming gift! I don't have time to raise two dogs!"

"I'll be here like everyday. All you'll need to do is be happy to see them when you get home." She bit her thumbnail and stared at him, displeased. That was what that face was. He knew that much. He handed the puppy box to Henry again, pulled out his life goals journal, unlocked it and made an X on the list, which made Charlotte smile, in spite of herself. "I am willing to take on all of the responsibilities parts of them. I'll make sure they're fed and clean and…"

"You need to make sure that they know how to use the bathroom before they are moving in here, Dude. I'm not cleaning up dog poo from any surface of my new apartment."

"That's fair," he said. Henry was already petting the boxed puppies and taking photos when Jasper reached for the box. "I'm gonna let them run around in the back of the truck while I'm here. That's where I got the dog house, anyway."

"The…" Charlotte looked and saw the doghouse that she didn't know where the heck he thought that he was putting in her apartment. She turned around and went into the apartment, leaving both dudes and both dogs outside.

"I didn't get a chance to tell her that they're both girls because I couldn't find a male Schnauzer for Tramp. I don't think she'll like me naming a girl Tramp, but it's symbolic."

"I don't think that Charlotte likes animals," Henry said, climbing into the back of Jasper's truck. "And, she seems more like a cat person, right?"

"She just doesn't have the time to raise them, but she's gonna love Lady and the Tramp, once they're ready to be civilized."

"She didn't love Katelyn. She barely acknowledged that she was alive and Katelyn was effing adorable."

"She took care of Katelyn all of the time! You just weren't there to see it," Jasper fussed.

"Why are you getting pissed?"

"I'm not. I'm just irritated that you're acting like you still know her better than I do."

"That's not what I'm… I'm sorry. How are you doing? What season is it for your sports?"

"Wrestling season is October until March. Boxing events usually begin in March. I have Dodge-a-leen practices all year, but tournaments are late spring, usually. Thinking about reviving kite disc for good on campus and just having it be among frats and stuff. I miss it, but I had to give it up. I'd give up anything for Charlotte."

"Is… that why you felt like you had to give me up?" Henry asked. Jasper gave him a look. "I just felt like we could all still be friends. Whenever you left for college, you were really on this 'of course we'll still be friends' thing, but we haven't talked out what happened."

"What's there to talk out? I apologized and you said, NBD."

"I said NBD because you apologized, but that doesn't mean it was resolved. Especially because you told me that I never reached out to you, then when I did, you weren't available,"

"So, I was supposed to wait for you to decide that you had some need for me? I have things to do, too. Maybe I'm not saving Swellview, but I'm not sitting around waiting to mean something to you, either."

Henry set The Tramp down and clasped his hands together, "I'm still the same dude who was willing to give up Kid Danger for you. I'm still the same person who took on a full shift at Cactus Con so you could be on a date! I'm still…"

"You're still the dude who was having wet dreams about my girlfriend right before we got together and acted like I was being an asshole for not wanting you to sleep in the same bed anymore!"

"Okay. Okay. Well, I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable…"

"Being friends means respecting boundaries. This is the woman that I plan to marry. Your friendship makes me uncomfortable, but that's not why you and me fell out. You and me fell out because whenever I expressed to you how I felt about it, you talked to me like I was a dumbass, and you accused me of mistreating Charlotte!"

"You _were_ mistreating Charlotte!"

"That wasn't the way to say it! When I'm trying to tell you what I don't like or don't want to happen and you respond that way, it makes me feel like not only did you not care about my boundaries, but you used her pain to try to attack me because you didn't like me setting those boundaries! And… That's just fucked up to do to both of us, yet I'm the only person who apologized for my behavior that night. I've been apologizing to people for standing up for myself for too long. I know myself better and I deserved better."

Henry nodded his head and collected Lady to pet her and help him feel better. "That is a lot to process. That makes sense. I think you're right and I never realized any of that before now, because we didn't talk about it. But, no matter what kind of dreams I had about Charlotte years ago, mind you… I'd never try to do anything with her and even if I had, she'd shoot me down and probably clobber me. She's been dickmatized by you since Day 1."

"I don't like…"

"I mean, she's been enamoured with you. Most of the time we talk, it's about your relationship and how much she loves you. I envy that and I would love to have that with someone, but that someone would never even cross my mind to be Charlotte. And I will sleep in my van before I make you feel that uncomfortable again, or before I won't hear you out when you're telling me about boundaries, or before I go without just kickin' it with my bro for all this time. I've got an empty spot where you're supposed to be, in here, Dude." He pointed all of his fingers to his heart.

Jasper smiled and said, "You know how she got into her whole energy/vibrations thing? She was researching what Jasper meant, because she had this idea to gift me some Jasper stones and she wanted to know more about them. So, she read somewhere that Jasper is the "Supreme Nurturer," a stone of grounding and stability, providing comfort and security, strength and healing. Its presence balances the aura to a level of wholeness and peace, and acts as a reminder that one is not here on the physical plane simply for oneself, but to bring joy and substance to others… and she said, "Babe… That is SO you!" And I cried and I started looking for the perfect ring… and she started looking into stones and energy and all that stuff."

"She's right, though, That is so you. Why do you think I miss you so much?"

"I missed you too.. I just couldn't let go of my pride until you seemed like you really cared about what I was trying to tell you that I cared about." They smiled at each other, then hugged it out.

"So… Did you find it? The perfect ring?"

"No. I think I may have to have it made."

"Does she know that you're looking?"

"I haven't confirmed anything, but she's the smartest person I know, so maybe."

"Well, I won't say anything, but damn it, I'd better be included on however it happens… Unless it's a private just you and her typed thing."

"I'm trying to find the perfect way too…" Jasper admitted. "When you've been doing great things for somebody for a while, it's hard to outdo yourself."

"Yeah, the stuff that she brags on you about, I honestly don't know how you can possibly top them, but you keep doing so, so…" Henry shrugged and sniffed around, "What is…"

"LADY!" Jasper said and Henry looked down at the puppy who peed on him.

"That's awesome…" he said, sarcastically.

.

It was good for Jasper to have Henry back, The dynamics of their friendship had definitely changed, as Jasper was less determined to lay himself down for Henry, but he still loved him and having him and Charlotte around when it was time to meet his dad was encouraging. It was a 4 hour drive, so Charlotte drove the way to get to Henry and then Henry drove the rest of the way to Mr. Dunlop's place.

Whenever they pulled into the address that had been given to Jasper online, the first thing that Jasper did was take the dogs to make waste. Henry and Charlotte were going to take them for a walk while he met up with his dad and not be too far away, in case he had to call on them.

Charlotte was carrying Lady because, "She gets excited and runs off too much," but, they both had leashes, so Henry was confused, but didn't bother.

Charlotte kept looking at the house, no matter how far they got from it and checking her phone. Henry realized that she probably was in protective mode. Whenever she thought her Jasper was in trouble, she was one feisty little woman. "Hey! Remember that time that Ray punched Jasper out and you came in and on sight, beat him up with your backpack?" She gave him a blank stare, unsure of why he was bringing that up. He smiled awkwardly. "That was funny to me… Albeit, terrifying." He shut up.

"Trample, where you goin,' Sis?" Charlotte said and Tramp turned around and came rushing back to her. "Here," He said, handing Lady off to Henry.

"Last time I held her, she peed on me."

"Dude, that was months ago." Charlotte said, dismissively and picked up Tramp.

"They can walk and we have leashes, why do you keep holding them?" He asked.

"The musty lady in the apartments let her dogs free run beside her and one of them got hit by the public bus!" Henry gasped in horror and cuddled Lady close to himself. "Yeah. That public bus near the apartments is scary. I don't want them to get used to just running around, unless I live somewhere with an open area and minimal vehicles. A college town is kind busy for that."

He nodded, "Okay, okay… But… We're not in town right now and I haven't seen any vehicles since we got here. Let's just let them use these for now and if something happens, we pick them back up." She nodded and let him put the leashes on the girls and walk them. "Are you worried about Jasper, Dude?" Whenever she was worried, she was a little more high strung. She nodded. "His dad seems like he wanted to meet him. I think it's probably going well."

"Yeah, but… Jasper just got to where he's able to balance his issues out with his current situation and I just don't want anybody shaking him up and throwing him off of his center."

"That's not gonna happen as long as he has you. From how I understand it, _you're _his center." She took a deep breath and looked at the house again. "Let's go back and see if we can check on him," Henry suggested.

A dark skinned woman with a huge afro, in draping, colorful clothes and a lot of jewelry opened the door and smiled at them. Charlotte and Henry glanced at their car in the driveway, then the house, then the woman. Charlotte asked, "Is… Is Jasper Dunlop here?"

"Yeah, he's here." She said and opened up to let them inside. "They're in the meditation room. Mind taking off your shoes? Also, we'll bring the dogs out back. It's fenced in and covered. Hawks won't get to them."

"Hawks?" Charlotte shrieked.

"Hawks WON'T get to them," Henry repeated. "Thank you," he said. "She's kind of an anxiety mom."

The Black woman said, "Well, I can make you some relaxation tea. It was helpful for Jasper. Passionflower with a little lavender and chamomile. You'll calm down and also sleep like a baby tonight."

"I… Are you a witch?" Charlotte asked.

"You can say that. I'm a healer, a practitioner of Hoodoo herbalism, tribal holistic care and divination."

"Oh! Like your friend from Louisiana," Henry said to Charlotte.

"They have a deep history with spirituality and healing in Louisiana, but I'm from Oklahoma. Descendant of African slaves and Native American slave owners, if you can believe we were recently expelled from tribes as members, you can't illegalize blood, therefore the magic of all of my ancestors is within me," the woman said, nodding her head as she released the dogs from their leashes and helped them through a doggie door. "I began to seek out the meanings of my dreams and found a mambo who connected me to my roots. I began practicing, only first to see if I really had a gift, then years later, as a believer. It's how I met Jack Leigh. He wanted help from some things and a friend told him about me. But, then he saw me and forgot what he wanted help with and asked me on a date, instead." She laughed.

"I can see why," Henry said.

Charlotte mumbled, "I can see why Jasper's mom hates me."

The woman shook her head, "Is there anybody that woman doesn't hate?"

"Herself?" Henry tried to guess.

"I wish that were true. That's where she has to begin her healing and until she does, none of her intentions will be corrected."

"Are you Jack Leigh's wife?" Henry wondered.

"I am so sorry! I never introduced myself. Adanna Blackfoot." She shook both their hands and led them to a sink in the little side area of the kitchen that looked out into the backyard. Charlotte could see the doggie enclosure. There were all kinds of plants and flowers growing on the fence surrounding them. The three of them washed their hands and talked a little while. Charlotte was fascinated with Jasper's stepmom, though she said she didn't feel that was a fair title, because she only knew Jasper from afar and word of mouth. But, Charlotte still wished THIS was the woman who'd raised her man. He'd be so much more in love with himself, and not just faking it. They eventually made it to the meditation room and Jasper was happy to see them. "Sorry, was I taking too long?"

Charlotte met him with a hug and a kiss, "I was worried about you, but Adanna eased my mind."

"She and Uncle Rox would be great friends," Jasper said.

"Uncle Rocks?" Jack Leigh repeated, confused, because Jasper didn't have any uncles by that name.

"My uncle Roscoe," Charlotte said.

"Roscoe Bolton?" Jack Leigh asked. From their faces, he could tell that was who they meant. "Wait a minute… You mean to tell me that your fiance is The Bolt's niece?"

"Uncle Rox just became infinitely cooler because he is known as The Bolt. Say more, right now!" Jasper said, excitedly. Charlotte was more on the _we all just glazed by that F word, huh? _

"Hell, The Bolt introduced me and Adanna! What's he up to? I haven't heard from that fool in years."

"Still a fool," Charlotte and Henry said, but Jasper had said, "He's the best!" Charlotte looked at Henry and said softly, "So… did you hear him say…"

"Yeah, I did."

"Okay. Tell me something," she said and laughed a little. _Fiancee? Was that how Jasper had described her? Because… YEAH - they most definitely were most likely gonna get married. She certainly hoped so, but they hadn't discussed it in a solid form yet._ It was more like how kids discussed graduation… an event that you look forward to and you know it's happening and even have certain elements and dreams about it that you must include. But, not knowing what college you'd attend, what your GPA will be, what major you would choose. It was like, sure marriage was a real possibility, but it wasn't something he'd asked her to do or something she had started preparing for - things that she associated with being a fiancee… Everybody was looking at her and she rewinded her mind a little to try to recall what they'd said in the background while she was in her thoughts. _Think he'd mind if I got his contact info? _"Uh, no. I'll give him a call and verify, though…"

"Small world," Henry said.

"It's a huge world, but everything is definitely connected," Adanna said, pouring the new brew of tea for the additional guests.

.

At some point, after a lot of laughter and stuff, Henry said, "Hey… Adanna, do you do like readings?"

"Not professionally," she said. "I've limited it to friends and family, loved ones, for personal reasons."

"Oh," he said, sadly. "Char and I have been trying to make an appointment with her friend, but our schedules never line up with her available spots."

"Well, for the two of you, of course, I would." She said and smiled, getting up to retrieve her cards. Charlotte was staring at Jasper, still thinking about the F word and wondering what happened before they made it in. He'd definitely been crying at some point. He had his 'crying bags' under his eyes. He was in good spirits now, but she wanted to know what went on when she wasn't there to protect and comfort him. He looked back at her and made a confused face. He was wondering what she was thinking about. She mouthed 'I love you,' to him and watched the smile on his face beam. "I'm so lucky," he said out loud. Jack Leigh smiled at the two of them. Beautiful couple. Wonderful boy. He'd really messed up missing out on shaping him.


	17. The Perfect Ring

**The Perfect Ring**

Jasper had a committee meeting for his activism group Athlivists right after his last class of the day, so he knew that he wouldn't see Charlotte again until he got off from work in the middle of the night and by then, she'd be asleep. Which was sometimes nice, because he'd just get to wash up and cuddle up to her and fall right to sleep in her hair. She had satin covers so she wouldn't need bonnets, so he got to be draped in the softness of that and draped around the softness of her. It was amazing. He slept like he was in an angel's bosom every night that he was with her, which was now every night, now that her apartment was so close by and of course he had a key.

Both of their schedules were filling up fast and he wanted to see more of her, but he also considered it a sacrifice right now for them to be able to have better chances later. People called his name whenever he was moving around on campus and he'd usually be sure to acknowledge them, even when he didn't know who they were. Sometimes, people just came up to him and started talking, either about their interest in alternative sports or their interest in activism, or his vlog, the radio show… "I'm so sorry, I have an Athlivists meeting, but my email is on my website, where I post the videos…" He had to eventually tell this woman who he couldn't figure out what she wanted him to know, at the moment.

Jasper began Athlivists with some of his brothers who were stars on their sports teams. They started out just him getting his friends to do him a solid… Charlotte was the project manager for one of her business courses, which she turned into a project for an environmental sciences purpose, but underestimated how much her peers cared about the environment. She was organizing meetings to move forward with her initiative to create community gardens in or near food deserts. Jasper didn't know what a food desert was, but she seemed very passionate about stopping them and she was very stressed out that not too many people were even interested. Her big event was coming up and she didn't even get a quarter of the people to sign her petition that she needed to help with the proposal. Jasper wasn't sure why she hadn't just asked him, if all she needed was people. When she called him to vent and cry a little before she had to put on her game face and push through the turnout, he got his sports friends to get their sports friends. Whenever she was about to move forward with what she feared was going to have to be a failing grade and also a let down to Mother Earth, he came to the signup event before with four times the people to show interest than she had initially been seeking. They were listening to the proposal, too, and some of them knew some of the business people invited, through their parents or whatever and in addition to it being a huge success for her, a lot of them were networking too. And more importantly a lot of them got information about the environment that they hadn't really been paying a huge amount of attention to. Like, they knew a lot of this stuff and heard about a lot - who doesn't know about climate change? - But, they also didn't know the degree of trouble that their world was in, or ways that they might help. They now wanted to know more and do more.

Jasper decided maybe they should start a group to focus on that type of thing, and other issues that they might come across, along the way. He was already in the Athletes Union and President of the Alternative Sports Sector. He'd already gotten funding for alternative sports whenever there is a big following and a fully functional team on campus. He had shown up to various rallies and protests about campus policy, laws, and social justice over the past year or so. So, starting a group of his own was in his ballpark, and he thought it was good to show the rest of them that the academics weren't the only ones who cared about relevant things.

They mostly focused on the environment, animal rights and sexual education. Jasper had other causes outside of the group that he was involved with for other stuff. But, Athlivists' claim to fame on campus (in the entire institution, actually, as it spread through the college and its affiliates) was what they called "Jock Block." Jasper will tell you in a heartbeat that although he was doing most of the leg work and liaison dealing, Charlotte inspired the idea. What is Jock Block, you ask? Resources and assistance for athletes via STD testing and treatment, birth control, protection, prevention and education.

Jasper was a championship wrestler, and headed up just about every alternative sport, as well as backed up some of the track and field events and having just one girlfriend had been paying for condoms that kept getting stolen by his frat brothers, up until he just asked Charlotte if she was interested in getting on birth control and offered to pay for it. He didn't want to use them anymore anyway. He enjoyed the feel better without them and loved the finish.

For a while, Jasper PREPAID for her birth control, just because he was that serious about making sure that he took care of her while getting what he wanted and she honestly felt like the school should provide that kind of thing. He just began to talk about it at first and found that a lot of the athletes felt like it would be super helpful if the school DID try to at least help a little.

What happens if you can't get the protection right away and decide to just go for it, then BOOM - you've spread crabs in the locker room… (Which happened before, but fortunately, Jasper had not been affected) BUT, of those who were affected, they didn't feel like they should have had to pay for treatment. They were exposed and didn't realize this was an issue. Some of them had never even thought about crabs before that happened. They thought that you had to have unprotected sex with someone infected to get them. Jasper figured that was a huge and terrifying problem, and began discussing what might be done to avoid things like that in the future and help some of their hardworking students to have access to more resources. Sometimes, they were going to be irresponsible, as was a part of life. So, they could put their bodies on the line and their physical wellbeing and sometimes mental, because sports and academics and other things altogether was stressful and sexual health was a beneficial release. An oopsie here and there shouldn't put them on the line like it sometimes did.

Jock Block was born to help with sexual education and health, but most of the athletes and beneficiaries thought of it as the "birth control plan." It's how they got their free condoms, their testing, treatment, and in cases like Jasper and Charlotte's reimbursed for birth control when the relationship was ongoing and the students were in good academic standing and athletic standing. Basically, Char was able to get free birth control because her boyfriend was a jock with good grades. (She got it free anyway, because he'd always paid for condoms, the morning after pill, and her birth control), but now he didn't have to anymore. There were other programs for assistance on campus, but those didn't have much to do with them. Jock Block also was helpful a time or two with remedial assistance, which was their fancy words for supplying Plan B. The athletes were encouraged to behave responsibly, but in certain situations, Jock Block would still bail them out, as long as it wasn't an ongoing practice. Jasper was a hero for helping it get established, among all of his familiars. The quarterback, who was extremely paranoid that women were trying to "trap" him, called Jasper "a god." Charlotte pulled Jasper away, and shook her head, "Please, don't ever say that." Jasper's head was big enough.

"I'm adding "god" to my list of accomplishments," he said.

Charlotte's circles gave her some crap about it sometimes. "You think it's good for the school to pay for the jocks to stick their penises wherever they want to?" That was a gross misrepresentation of what the program did and instead of explaining it from start to finish to every critic, she began handing out literature about it when someone had something slick to say. She was Jasper's #1 supporter and protector. Nobody was about to come to her with some mess just because they couldn't get close enough to him to bitch and moan.

.

Whenever they came back from visiting his dad, something shifted in him. She didn't know what, but he suddenly seemed more serious than before. She loved that. A serious Jasper was hot and that was the person that initially drew her in deeper than friendship, but also, it seemed like a switch had been flipped and she was uncertain what to make of it. She really worried whenever she came into the frat house and he was sitting at his desk in his room, staring at his computer while Lady and Tramp were barking at him. Jasper never ignored them, so she figured that he was in a daze. She took the dogs out to go potty, then came back and he was still there. "Heyyy, Jasper…"

He blinked and turned to look at her with a tired smile, "I didn't hear you come in," he said.

"I took the dogs for a walk," she closed the door and released them. "You okay?" she wondered, heading to wash her hands.

"Just thinking," he said and got up to greet her.

"About?" He leaned near the sink and was quiet again. "You don't have to tell me," she said.

"No, I...I am." He looked up at her in the mirror, then got closer and wrapped his arms around her, smiling. "I love seeing us in a mirror."

"Oh yeah?" She asked, looking up at the two of them and she thought that did look good together.

"I get to look at you all the time, and I certainly do every chance that I get, but in the mirror, I get to see myself with you. I get to see this person who I used to think was pretty damned broken, but he's complete, and he's complete because he's got this goddess in his life that makes him better, smarter, stronger… I don't know that I ever would have been this kind of me without your support."

"You definitely would have, because I don't support half of your shenanigans," she joked.

He kissed her neck, sighed, and shrugged his shoulders, "I got an offer for an internship at a brokerage firm." He folded his arms and said, "That _is _within my scope and could possibly be a pretty good job if I get put on afterwards, There's not a lot of undergrads being considered for it, so to turn it down might be taken the wrong way, but to accept it might affect some of the stuff that I'm doing right now. I like right now, but I've got a woman and two dogs and I'm a grown man…" He went back to his seat and asked, "How was your day?" then started typing his reply.

Her eyes were wide. She dried her hands and came up behind him to wrap him in a hug and kiss him on his hair. She read as she did. He was replying. He was accepting. "My day was good, but… Are you sure that you want to do this, Jasper? You function and flourish when you're happy and something tells me that this might not make you happy. You'll be unhappy and unpaid."

"I did that apprenticeship for a year with no pay. The internship will be similar to that, except boring, but whenever you become an adult, things _get_ boring, don't they?"

She didn't know if that was true or not. She'd _always _been seen as kinda boring. The sciences that she was currently working on in the lab was her "fun," and a lot of her peers told her that was sad. "I don't think so," she answered and stroked his hair. "Just… Make sure that you want it. It'll be hard to get yourself out of a career path once you start heading down one."

But, Jasper sent the message, anyway and turned in his chair with a smile. She knew that smile. It was one that he put on when he was done focusing on the negatives of something. He'd made his decision and that was that for him. "Who knows? Maybe I'm multi talented and can make a bunch of stuff work at once, like you Miss STEAM Extraordinaire!" She blushed and tried to walk away but he pulled her closer and said, "Uh uh… I haven't gotten kisses yet and I get to kiss an… what was it Academic Superstar?"

"That story was lip service, and you know it!" She said.

"Blasphemy! I grew up with Charlotte Page and the story ran on her in a NATIONAL publication about her intelligence and accomplishments was 100% truth!" She smiled and gave him the kisses he was trying to earn.

But, she got up quickly too. "It puts a lot of stress on me, though. Now, I have to see a National STEAM Today's Scientists to Follow tacked on to my name everywhere, and I keep getting calls for interviews that I can't turn down because not only could it affect what people think of me, but it could affect what they think of every Black woman fortunate enough to be involved and recognized." He looked confused and she explained, "Since Black people, Black women especially, are so stereotyped and misrepresented, under-represented, unappreciated, etc, whenever one of us does get the attention that we deserve, we sort of have to take on this role of model minority and be the change that our people want to see in the world. We have the task of breaking stereotypes and showing the world that WE can do this too, see this example, but we also have to still go into work spaces and battle the stereotypes from the others, who often don't think we deserve the recognition that we got or want us to perform and prove ourselves in ways that less marginalized people would never be expected to."

He frowned and clenched his fist, "Is somebody giving you shit at work?"

She laughed and rubbed his fists, making him release them, "Uh, no more than usual and if I want to try to keep it that way, I've gotta play my politics. I have to show that I can do everything that was said of me and more, and still look cute while I do it, because if I have even one hair out of place, at least a thousand people will focus in on it and ask, "Is THIS the chick that thinks we're gonna get drug therapy from her when she can't even manage to get her hair treatment right?" He was seething now and she laughed it off, "Jasper. I'm used to it. It's just annoying."

"It sounds infuriating and I don't understand why you have to take it!"

"I have to take it because I don't have the power or position to change the world. I just have to do my best with my fraction of society." She sighed. It was exhausting, but she knew since she was little that she'd have to do twice the work to get half the credit and work twice as long to get a quarter of a break. That was why casual racism triggered her far more than blatant hatred did. Because it was so subtle and ominous that people could get away with it, even while it was hurting her little by little. The brash, bold types, anybody with reason, would disagree with and take her side. She needed backup whenever it was lowkey microaggressions that affected her on a daily basis and kept the strong institution of racism flowing smoothly. "I appreciate that you're upset by it, though." _Upset by it? Jasper wanted to punch someone in the face for it. _

Since the whole thing with Casper, he'd become hypersensitive to casual racism. It was to the point where people kept telling him that it was hard to be around him because he always "found something racist." He would in turn let them know that it was hard for him to be around stuff that he found racist and that's why they were having a conversation in the first place.

Mid junior year, he was under review for a fight that he "escalated" whenever he heard one of the frat brothers describe him as a (N word in disguise) to tell someone not to say anything that seems even remotely racist around him. He didn't care that somebody was saying _that_ about him. He liked that people wanted to watch their mouths around him and wished that they kept that energy around anybody, because if it was just around him, then that meant that's who they were inside, but they just didn't want any smoke from him. It was the fact that the person used the N word, which is NEVER acceptable. Charlotte told him that. NEVER and he was now adamant about that.

So, whenever he confronted them about the matter and not saying that word in any capacity, even if it was in a song, an argument broke out and Charlotte's existence was invoked, but referred to in a way that Jasper didn't appreciate. "Just because you stick your - in the Help-" Jasper expressed that with his fist. He was under investigation because he "hit him first," but whenever he told his version of the story, he couldn't even bring himself to repeat what was said. Instead, he wrote it down and just showed the camera during his storytime. He got a lot of support and love and fans wrote the school about it and emailed them and flooded their social media with their support for him and their call for action to be taken with that "racist bitch in the frat." The guy wound up transferring and no action was taken against Jasper, but the dean had a talk with him about how he couldn't just punch people because he disagreed with them and that next time there might be consequences. There wasn't. He'd punched another guy for groping her a few weeks later.

Even if he had gotten consequences, he didn't care. He knew so many guys who were just as defensive of their women and just as active and aggressive to protect him. None of them got the same pushback that he did whenever he was defending Charlotte. Sometimes, even the Black dudes that were around didn't seem to have his back when he'd be speaking up for her in some example or another.

He'd gotten a little bit of opposition for making some statements on the radio show that he wished that people were as supportive of Black women whenever things happened as they were to the Black men. A lot of people didn't like that. Charlotte explained to him that while she agreed, it wasn't his place to say that in a space created by and for Black people. "Say that kind of stuff to YOUR people," she'd told him. "They really need to hear things from people like them." But, it grew his Black women demographic. A few Black owned companies sent him free shirts with messages like "Support Black Women" and "Love Black Women," and he wore TF out of them. He wasn't even really a huge advocate. He didn't do a bunch of rallies for them and stuff, even with all of the rallies that he did. But, they saw that he had a Black girlfriend and heard that he was vocal about appreciating Black women and they were on board. She even finally appeared in one of his videos. He was showing people how he helped her with her hair care. Not really a tutorial, but just a demonstration, with him talking about how relaxing it was for him to know that she trusted him in her hair, and to be so intimate with someone that you know how to take care of them the way that they would take care of them.

Charlotte had to admit that version of him was the hottest yet. It was refreshing to change from being surrounded by people and hear what would have once been a dog whistle for her and having to evaluate whether she would call them out and look like an irrational Black bitch or suffer in silence, to having a bulky, hot, popular dude ask them, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" with an expression on his face that let a bitch know that they better think of a way to paraphrase real quick if this was gonna be a smooth conversation. She always had to try to fight the urge to smirk at the person. Sometimes, she just went ahead and did it.

She also explained to Jasper that this too was part of his privilege, because Black men could be just as defensive of their Black woman and be met with aggression and fear that could get police involved, which could turn out horribly. "The fact that you get to straighten these people out and they apologize is something that my dad didn't often get whenever he had to do the same thing," she'd told him. He'd never sleep on that power again.

When they were out in public, he'd always wrapped his arm around her and kept her close to his side because she was small and he was protective. However, knowing how hostile the world could be towards her for no good reason, he not only kept her close whenever possible, but if they got separated or split to mingle, he tried to keep an eye on her and/or send her check in texts. "You good, Babe?" He'd ask, then watch her smile to herself and look around for him to make eye contact that she was. It was… something to get used to for her, but she supposed that was much better than being ignored. She sometimes gave him space because she knew that he was likely doing all of this for her benefit, because of how she felt before, so she saw that effort and attempted to reward it with some breathing room. Honestly, he was probably more relaxed whenever she didn't make it to parties and gatherings, which was fine for her.

She much preferred to be laying in bed, in a fuzzy blanket with the doggies warming her feet or in her lap while she attempted to watch joint replacement videos and tell them how she would have done it differently, like they knew what she was talking about. She'd rather light some frankincense candles, put a sheet mask on, pour a glass of wine and read a stack of books, for fun for a change, not for class or work. In fact," she checked the time on her phone. It was right around Midnight and she was on a "Cinderella Schedule" this semester. She left places at Midnight, regardless of where she was or what was going on. She wasn't staying past Midnight, because she usually had 12-14 hour school/work days and that 4-6 hours of sleep that she got nightly was imperative for her brain to continue functioning.

On her way to the door, texting Jasper the golden carriage icon that she had saved to her phone for when it was time for her to dip out and they weren't next to each other, she accidentally bumped into someone. "Excuse me," she said politely and looked up to see Casper. She hadn't seen that woman in months. She forced a smile and moved around, but Casper followed her.

"Hey, can I please talk to you for a moment?"

"I gotta go home, Girl. It's past my curfew," Charlotte said, continuing to walk.

"Well, I'll walk with you to your vehicle. It's not safe out here by yourself, anyway," she said.

Charlotte's nostrils flared, and she texted Jasper about it, but she shrugged her shoulders, "I can't tell you where to walk."

"I just wanted to apologize to you for everything. I genuinely apologize. Like, I honestly didn't realize that I was as much of a trash person as I was. People told me that these are the years that we do all this figuring ourselves out stuff and I guess I thought I was someone else. I'm realizing my own flaws and I hate how things were left off between us. Jasper was my best friend, and I always loved you! We talked about you all the time and I never would have wanted to hurt you or him or make either of you mad. I just wanted you to know that. From my heart."

She seemed genuine. Charlotte had to admit that she didn't radiate the same vibes as before. There was no reason to be mad at her or hate her when she didn't really affect Charlotte's life. But, there was no reason to make room for her either. "Casper, I…"

"Dohn," Casper corrected.

"Dawn…"

"No, not Dawn, Dohn. Like John, but with a "D." D.O.H.N."

Charlotte stared at her for a moment with furrowed eyebrows that seemed to say _Girl, I don't care, _but she didn't bring the phrase to her lips. "Dohn." She corrected herself. "I'm not worried about what happened between us, nor do I care. It's fine. You don't have to apologize or anything else. It's forgotten. Don't worry about it. Goodnight."

"Is it okay if I call you?" Casper… Dohn asked.

"For what purpose?" Charlotte wondered.

"You just always seemed like a really cool person, but you often seemed lonely. I didn't know if you could use a friend, but I sure could.."

"I don't know about that…"

"Okay. I'm sorry. Well, thank you for hearing me out. Have a beautiful night." Dohn hugged her, which was on brand for her. She used to hug Charlotte all the time, and every time, it caught her off guard, even though she knew the girl was a hugger. She had a firm hug that seemed like she read about a hug in a book, but never mastered it and it always hit Charlotte's little body like an attack. But, this one was softer. She was gentler. She touched Charlotte's hair and smiled down at her, and Charlotte shrank back, confused and a little bit bothered.

"You too," she said and Jasper suddenly appeared out of nowhere and got up into Dohn's face asking, "Why are you all up on her?"

Charlotte and Dohn both looked shocked and tried to explain to him that they were just talking and it was fine. Charlotte hated that look in Jasper. It was his "pre-violence" look. "Heyyy, everything's cool, My Dude. Why are you getting all up in her face like this?" She hated that he was making her intercede for Casper. "Something that I need to know?"

"Unfortunately, Jasper isn't as forgiving as you. He thinks the worst of me. Good night to you both," she said and left.

"F Sized, you okay?" He nodded his head. She raised her eyebrows. He drew her into his side and started walking towards her apartment. "I really want you to explain to me what just happened there. I know she's taller than you and tough or whatever, but you were really on her like she was some dude at a bar starting crap. What was that about?"

"You said that she was following you."

"Yeah, but I didn't expect THAT to be your reaction."

"She's a foot taller and 100 more pounds of muscle than you. She shouldn't be following you."

"So, that was it? Just the text that I sent. 'Ya girl Casper is out here following me tryin' to talk' made you want to get in her face like that?" He sighed. "I know you're holding back something from me and if I'm at risk of being hurt, I should know. I just told that woman that I basically forgive her and let her hug me!"

"She had a thing for you!" He said and shook his head. "Whenever we first met, she was all friendly to us and inviting us to the kite disc events and stuff, she was trying to get closer to you, not me. That's something that she eventually admitted when we became friends, but I thought that because she was seeing someone at the time that she admitted that, it was no big deal and she was over it or whatever." Charlotte's eyes were just hella confused, tbh. "But, I did start to notice that she was kinda too friendly with you, and realized that she had _always _been. She was always hugging you and rubbing your back and stuff like that and whenever I asked her about it, she said that was just how she was. Which… I didn't recall her being that way before, but then she was all over me like that, so I thought that maybe I just hadn't noticed it before. This is all stuff that I thought about after the fact, by the way. I'm kinda… slow at times, you know?"

"I don't think that you're slow. I think that you're just such a nice and well-meaning person that you aren't suspicious about things, or you're naive about people's motives because you don't have a manipulative bone in your body. Because, she totally did start being way more affectionate towards you after a while and I presumed it was because she had developed a crush on you from hanging out so much."

"Yeah, well, whenever we fell out, someone "leaked" this video of her and her friend… I swear, if I didn't know every inch of you, it'd be frightening."

"Her girlfriend looked like me?"

"That's the thing. This wasn't her girlfriend. It was someone she was seeing and after this video leaked, and people were asking her about this person, she told them that she didn't want to out her, because she was involved with someone and she didn't want to damage her reputation."

"So, it looks like her girlfriend IS me?"

"A lot of our mutuals certainly thought so!"

"When was this?"

"Months ago. I just kept assuring people that it wasn't you, but with her being vague and with everyone knowing that she and I weren't friends anymore, I mean, come on."

"Ugh. What did she say to you about that?"

"She said that she didn't want people to think it was you either but she didn't want to grant them the power of process of elimination when there are so few people to fit that description in the area."

Charlotte winced, "That's… considerate of her friend…"

"Uhhh, at best her friend is involved with someone who she has an open relationship with but they don't want people to know that she's been with girls. At worst, she's cheating on whoever she's involved with and Dohn's willing to sacrifice your reputation to protect hers. But, I don't think it was an accident at all. I think she leaked it herself to make people think that about you because whenever I thought back to our relationship, she was always way more interested in you than she should be and I have a very bad habit of talking about you passionately for hours, if someone will let me!"

"Well, this is all surprising, troubling, mildly flattering, because I didn't even know that there were girls who like me. But, I do feel a way that you think she's capable of what you just accused her of."

"What are you on? More girls like you than dudes, from what I hear."

"What?"

"Multiple times, I've heard that people think I'm your beard."

"Awwww," she said, touched.

"But, that could also be because of her!" He fussed.

"Don't ruin my lesbian sex symbol status headcanon. Big Dog."

"I'm gonna ruin you," he joked. "Why are you so into this?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I feel WAY more comfortable with the thought of women wanting me than I do with the thought of them wanting YOU. Because, THAT'S when Crazy Charlotte shows up!"

And it was, and Jasper loved it. He did his best to try not to make her jealous, but sometimes, like she said, he really wasn't suspicious enough to peep flirting. Charlotte would come over and observe the woman very closely, right in her face and her space until she was acknowledged, then apologize and introduce herself as Jasper's girlfriend. Jasper would always bite his lip and look her over, when she finally had run off whatever flirting girl was in his space and she made eye contact at her, he'd wink or blow her a kiss and she'd realize that she probably had just showed out.

.

Henry liked the photo of Jasper's The Fool tattoo on his right shoulder blade. It had been being worked on whenever Adanna did his reading for him because it had been drawn in the future position. She explained something like, it meant, like new beginnings and was good in the future position because it could mean that like, something good was gonna happen with a new life thing or something? Henry was bad at remembering, because she'd said so much, but it was apparently enough for Jasper to get that permanently put on his body. Henry couldn't help but wonder if he was gonna regret these decisions one day. Like… Everybody doesn't know the meaning of The Fool or whatever. She explained it and Henry was still confused. Now, this dude had a The Fool on his damn body… "THIS JUST HAPPENED!" He saw the caption of a video with his handle tagged to it and went to watch it.

Charlotte was near Jasper while his friend was finishing up his The Fool Tarot Card tattoo, and talking about possible tattoos that she might consider, tiny ones of course and Jasper asked her what she thought of his new one, so she went to look at it (she doesn't seem to notice the camera) and she said, "Yeah, Babe. It looks awesome. It's beautiful. That's a good way to celebrate your good future stuff or whatever," she told him. Now, she had thought that maybe Adanna's reading was in reference to his internship, because she'd mention that it could be a new move or new job etc, but then (in the tattoo shop, Jasper told her).

"I thought a lot about how to do this or say this, or whatever." Charlotte looked confused as he got out of the seat, still shirtless. "I know that you don't like huge surprises and stuff, so I didn't want to do that, but I wanted to do something significant, too."

"For what?" she asked, laughing nervously.

"The Fool in romance can mean that your existing relationship can take a turn for the better. So, I wanted to ask you, since I have the confidence that my future and my fortune is with you…" He got on his goddamned knee and grabbed a ring box from underneath the tattoo seat he'd just gotten his tat finished in… She screamed and dropped the tattoo book that she'd been holding to rush to him and hug and kiss him.

Henry was in tears! He wanted to be a part of this! But… Jasper also had been trying to see when he could make it into town and he'd said, "If all else fails, just tag me first when you announce the news." And, Jasper did. Henry was tagged, then his mom, then Charlotte's parents, Uncle Roscoe, Adanna, his dad, Aunt Cohort, Piper, Ray, Schwoz, the fraternity page, his sports teams…

Jasper told her, "I was actually gonna hide the ring in the tattoo book and be like, "What do you think of this one," but that seemed awkward and like I'd have to explain too much…"

She looked at the ring and shook her head, "It's SO pretty! I love it! It's perfect!"

_Whenever Jasper's dad popped the question to his mom, she was just about visibly pregnant, embarrassed about it and desperate to do this the right way. Jack Leigh was desperate to "fix his mistakes" and "make an honest woman out of her." Oh, and also drunk. So drunk, that he didn't know if he was coming or going. He needed the liquid courage to go back to her after she'd told him that if she had to do this on her own, she would. She didn't have to do it on her own! At least, he didn't want her to. He couldn't figure out where he'd get a ring at this time of night, but came across one of those Bilsky brothers. The whole family was a bag of rotten apples. One of them had to know a guy… Hell, one of them WAS the guy. "A ring? Yeah, I got rings. What's your budget?" Jack Leigh emptied his pockets and had maybe a few hundred bucks, and a punch card. He shook his head and called, "Jeff! Get Daddy that box of rings! The cheap ones!" A teenage boy rushed to… of all places… the BBQ pit and lifted the lid and grabbed a box. Daddy Bilsky gave it to his old buddy and said, "I'll letcha grab two of 'em. I hear you gotta get two. My old lady and I got hitched on the run, so we never even got one of them, but I've collected her plenty over the years. She don't notice when the cheap ones go missing." Jack Leigh didn't even shift through the box. He grabbed a couple, waved to them and went on his way._

_Jeff came back to his father and asked, "Dad, how mad would you be if I think I gave you the good stuff?" Jack Leigh heard Daddy Bilsky fussing at his kid, but he was too out of it to hear what he was saying._

_Whenever Pansy left, Jack Leigh got one of those rings back. She threw the wedding ring right at his head and slammed the door as hard as she could with a baby on her waist. He was too drunk to care about whatever she'd said, too. He was often that way, but he did come across that ring again when he was clearing out of that little place. He tossed it in his pocket, in case he ever wanted to pawn it. Might be cheap, but he could probably get a few beers for it. It stayed in his wallet most of the time, though. He couldn't see Jasper back then… legal stuff that he totally understood at the time, but whenever he would look at the ring and think about hocking it, he'd think about his baby boy, out there… The one that he'd even bought the stupid thing for. He couldn't seem to part with it. Not because he missed his wife, but because he took a wife because he was going to be a father, and nobody but him messed that up. It was a reminder that he needed to get clean and needed to straighten up. Maybe some day, he could see Jasper again. Maybe someday, he'd give him this stupid ring. He got it appraised, just to see if it was worth anything. Because he was curious if the sentimental value of it would even mean anything to the kid… this was maybe 3 years later. The damn thing was worth more than his crummy life. He could literally sell it and probably wind up getting himself out of his debt! But… looking at the thing, listening to the guy talk to him, very suspicious that this shady character probably stole this from some place, and was likely gonna put out an alert about it… Jack Leigh thanked him for his time and put it back into his wallet. He hadn't gotten completely clean, but that was sobering. He knew he had to keep it together, carrying something worth that much with him, especially considering that it was worth even more in sentimental value._

_He met Jasper when he was four. Adorable chubby kid with dimples and curly hair. He was excited to meet him and told him everything that he could possibly tell him. Jack Leigh came to a realization whenever Pansy told him that he could come to see him… He'd messed up. He should have had a room FULL of gifts and cards and money that he never got a chance to deliver over the past four years. He should have had candy and cookies and really… fanfare. All he had was that ring and he certainly couldn't hand him that at age 4. He stopped at one of those weird gas station gift shops and said, "Anything for like a 4 year old kid… I don't even know what he likes!"_

"_We got grab buckets," she said and pointed towards a display. It was like a grab bag, but in a bucket. All kinds of little toys and stuff that would most likely break and stuff if it wasn't a choke hazard. Hopefully, Pansy wouldn't kill him. He went over there with a bucket of junk and threw in a hundred dollar bill that he got back after this purchase. Pansy was judging him from the moment that he handed that garbage to her son. But, the kid was excited, "WOW! A BUCKET!"_

"_Uhhh… there's stuff in it. Toys and stuff," Jack Leigh said. Jasper got onto his tiptoes, but Jack kneeled in front of him, seeing his features for the first time since he was an infant. Seeing how much like his own childhood photos he looked. Pansy must've seen it too. There was something about the way that she looked at the kid. Jack Leigh didn't like it, but who was he to judge? He hadn't even been around._

"_Jasper, I don't think that any of that stuff is safe to play with!" She said and snatched the bucket from his little hands. He jumped, frightened and Jack Leigh noticed and reached for his hand, to try to give him some comfort. He was about to cry. She was taking away the only thing his daddy had given him…_

"_Well, can't he at least have the bucket?" Jack Leigh asked._

_She looked at him like he was an idiot. "He's four. Why would he want this ugly big bucket?"_

"_I do want the bucket, Mom! I love it. It's a nice bucket, Daddy." She looked bothered. She dumped the toys in the garbage and handed him the bucket back, then went to sit down, and glare at them. Jasper didn't really look in her direction during the visit, but Jack Leigh wondered if he couldn't feel the same… whatever it was that she had radiating for him that he felt from her. He was allowed a few more visits, until he showed up with Adanna one day. Pansy stepped outside and interrogated her, then said that Jasper wouldn't be coming for any more of these "disappointing little visits," and sprinkled on at the end, "And I WILL be contacting you about child support!" That was that._

_Adanna convinced him to fight for custody, at least shared. He had gotten his life together and he shouldn't have to be punished forever. There were disputes, but after a while, he ran out of money for that fight and her husband didn't. So, not only could he still not see Jasper, and had legal fees, but… child support. He couldn't do it. He'd already gotten so low, that he went back to some of his old ways. He was lucky to have Adanna around. Eventually thought about giving her the ring, but explained to her why he didn't think that he could. "Can I at least see it?" she wondered._

_He pulled it out and she was already uneasy. He handed it to her and she cried, "I'm glad that you don't want to give this to me, because it's full of negative energy. Guilt, despair, regret, heartache… This isn't something that you give to someone that you care about."_

"_Should I get rid of it? Sell it? I'm probably never going to see my son again…"_

"_Even if you see him, he can't have this, Jack Leigh. It's got a signature on it."_

"_Is there a way to fix it?" _

_She cleansed the ring and once she was done, she smiled at it and said, "This ring has new hope. It wants to find someone to love, but it feels like it belongs to someone."_

"_Who?"_

"_I don't know, but I sense that this ring wouldn't be at home with me." She reached out to give it to him, but he shook his head._

"_If you hand it to me, it'll just absorb my negative energy again. You hold on to it for me. If I don't give it to Jasper, I guess it'll find its way to whoever. I want it to find them in peace."_

_Jasper, Charlotte, and Henry were sitting on the floor, talking about their readings. Henry was shaken up by his, but Jasper kept staring at the Fool. Adanna said, "Jasper, can I show you something?" He got up and followed her through some crystal beaded curtains to a cute little room, where she climbed up a step ladder and got a ring box off of her bookshelf. "Jack Leigh told you about this, right? When you two talked?" She stepped down and opened the box to show him a ring and his heart leaped in his chest._

"_Is this my mom's wedding ring that she threw at his head? I've heard about it from her! She'd say, if I'd been more smart than mad, I'd have pawned that for the child support! Can I touch it?" She handed it to him and told him the story, because obviously, Jack Leigh had been more focused on the drinking, the fighting and the accident. Jasper gasped and said, "You think that this ring belongs with me?"_

"_I think that it belongs with her," she said and glanced at Charlotte through the beads. Charlotte was laughing a melodious laugh at a story that Uncle Roscoe was telling on speaker phone, while catching up with Jack Leigh. "I think that she'll love it, when you're ready." She cupped his chin and lovingly said, "Fool."_

"I had a feeling that you would love it. It was my dad's…"

She held her heart and shook her head, "I love it even more!"

They kissed, a lot, and he held her close and began to tell his friends that they were going to head out to go celebrate, but Charlotte said, "I need to get a tattoo!" He stared at her. "You got one on the date that we get engaged, so I want one too!"

"What do you want. You've literally been thinking about this for years and can never decide a place or a tattoo!" He teased.

She pointed right behind her ear and said, "Here." He knew that spot well. He was always kissing her there. He loved it and she loved it. But, he was thinking about how she was about to make him have to get into the habit of not kissing her there until it healed.

He took her to his chair and nodded, "Okay, and what do you want there Chef's Kiss?" he wondered.

"The word "Yes." She looked into the mirror at him and the smile on his face, she hoped he smiled at her like that for the rest of their lives..


	18. Wedding Plans

**Wedding Plans**

Charlotte was going to tough it out and let Jasper give her a tattoo for her 21st birthday anyway, so getting it done a little sooner (and now it was more significant than whatever she was probably going to decide on), was great. And, she could now say that she's had it done and never has to do it again. She did not have a high threshold of pain, like Jasper did. It was only a few minutes, but she felt like she was being tortured and she was not a fan of it, in any way, shape or form. But, she liked the way that Jasper spoke really soothing to her while she whimpered and kissed her on her nose and asked her if she wanted him to continue. He was so damn sweet and affectionate to her.

Jasper was the type of partner who, without fail, every month whenever her period showed up (first of all, he downloaded the same calendar app that she used to keep up with hers and any changes); he brought her supplies and catered to her, even if she didn't particularly "feel bad" during the week. He monitored the dogs, in case she wanted to keep them cuddled beside her, or in case she did not want them anywhere near her. Periods could be tumultuous for her sometimes and he tried to pay extra attention and anticipate her needs when she was going through it. This particular one, she wanted to be positive and encouraged, but her body decided that it was going to try the exact opposite route.

Despite being exhausted with his internship, class and everything else on his plate, Jasper made time to prepare an extra special care package. He had gotten some tips from Adanna on some remedies and she had prepared him some of her favorite go to concoctions and mailed them to him. He put the glass jars and pretty bottles into the basket that he used every month for her care package and went to her apartment. He let himself in, of course, and she was asleep, so he was able to work in silence. The dogs were on the patio, which was gated and had their dog house and feeding bowls outside, set apart from the little table and chairs that they usually sat at whenever they had an outside date night. Having the peace of the place at his disposal, Jasper lit candles in each room, prepared tea, started on breakfast and set her basket and the card he'd gotten her on her dining room table, a bouquet of her favorite flowers and a set of "period crystals" (Amethyst, Moonstone, Obsidian, Quantum Quattro) that he had gotten her, but she had yet to actually use.

She got out of bed whenever she smelled food and limped into the room, ready to have tea and medicine, because her entire lower body was aching. "Morning, Babe," she said, and kissed his tricep from behind, because that was the easiest thing for her to reach. He loved all those little random place kisses she gave him.

"Morning, Beautiful. Have a seat. Breakfast is almost ready."

She smiled and sat down, "I can't believe that you made time to do all of this, this time. You have a lot to do, Jasper!"

"Not so much that I'm gonna stop loving you the way that I love you," he said and shrugged his shoulders. She gushed and he leaned down to give her a kiss on the lips. She quickly allowed it and backed away. She hadn't brushed her teeth yet. "Anyway, I've gotta eat too, why not here, with you?" He presented a plate to her and sat down with his own. Charlotte looked at the time on her phone. If she took some medicine now, she should be functional enough to go to class with minimal to no pain. After breakfast, they washed up and headed out.

.

That week was difficult for him, because he definitely wanted to be sure to take care of her, but he also had a lot of important things to do. Classes in the morning, internship in the afternoon, sleeping until late, moonlighting at the tattoo parlour, and a nighttime nap until morning. "How do you get a chance to work out with this current schedule? You won't be ready to play if you don't keep up with your exercise."

"Baby, I don't think that I have time to keep up with sports. This internship is kicking my ass. I wouldn't even be at the parlour, if I didn't need the money." He looked exhausted and she hated it. "Not only do I need to survive, but we've got a wedding coming up. I mean, I don't know when, but I know that they cost money."

"We don't have to do anything fancy. We can just have our closest friends and a cake!"

"I've been waiting my whole life to find somebody who would be willing to marry me and you think I'm gonna commemorate it with "a cake," Charlotte?"

"I just don't want you breaking your back for something that isn't necessary. Jasper, we're as in love as any married couple, already. I'm committed and I believe that you are too. All we need is a legal contract and witnesses that we care about… and yes, a cake. A Charlotte cake, for me. I always wanted to have that as my wedding cake, even though it isn't usually made for such a special event."

"We can have Charlotte cake for everybody," he said, making notes in his Wedding Planner… which she just noticed.

"Hey, what you got there, F Sized?"

"Our wedding planner. I'm putting all of our notes in it, separated by these little tabs, and I'm gonna get with Henry on the best ideas so that we can make it happen. Oh! He's calling!" Jasper cheered and answered the phone, "Yo, yo, yo!" Jasper yelled and got up and left the room. Charlotte sighed and texted a group chat that she had recently created, titled "Matriarchal Matrimony Advice," including herself, Rosemary Page, Jasper's Mom Pansy, and Adanna Blackfoot.

"_Hey. Jasper is running himself ragged and not listening to my sound advice. How do I get him to think it's his idea to take a break?"_

_Jasper's Mom: You would know before I would. If you figure it out, let ME know._

_Mom: Let him do what he feels like he needs to do and just back him up whenever he falls short. No need to manipulate or trick. Just, let him do him. He most likely knows his limits better than you do. Even if he isn't that responsible, he knows that he's got you to think about now._

_Adanna: My advice. Just let him know that it is really important to you that he takes some time for himself and gets some rest. You want your lover at his best and it makes you happy whenever he can be. To be at his best, he'll need to get some rest._

_Charlotte: Thanks Moms!_

.

Charlotte's birthday was nearby and even though Jasper hadn't posted a video in a while, he wanted to be sure to do a Birthday Tribute episode for her. It would probably be the last one that he had a chance to create, with his schedule, so he wanted to check in with his fanbase to let them know and also to celebrate her, at the same time. He had done an engagement announcement video, but it was basically a couple of minutes in which he cheered about her saying yes, told the brief proposal story, and got her to show off the ring that he gave her. The outpouring of support was fantastic. He lived for it and hoped to see as much or more whenever he made a video for her birthday.

Now, Charlotte was trying to keep things lowkey for her birthday. Yes, she was turning 21 and that was supposed to be monumental, but with the exception of her adding wine to her diet, she didn't think any real changes were happening in her life because of the birthday. The biggest real change that she had ahead of her was becoming the next Mrs. Dunlop… Or Page-Dunlop, or Pagelop… "Hey, what's your opinion on last names when married?" She asked at dinner.

"My opinion, or what I want?"

"Those should be the same thing."

"My opinion is that everyone should have whatever name they choose to have. But… I… do want you to take my name… Not as like ownership or anything! I just want us to have the same last name."

"You could take my name, or we could do one of those combined last names, or both have both last names and have them hyphenated…"

"Okay. I wasn't tryin' to pressure you. You asked, so I answered…"

"I know! I'm just… I never thought about it because I never planned on getting married and now that I'm planning on getting married, I have to actually think about it. Plus, a wedding… A ring! I don't know where to start on any of it, or when I'll have the time."

"I'll have the time. Summer's in less than 2 months and you know I won't have classes," he said, not really seeming very worried about it as he teetered on his phone.

"You'll have the time to do what… select your own ring? Aren't I supposed to do that?" She checked the Clueless Bride App and said, "It's on MY checklist!"

"I can pick one out and just tell you what I found, although, it really doesn't matter to me what ring you get. The being married to you part is the prize." She curled her lips and gave him a doubtful look. There was no way his sensitive ass wouldn't feel a way if she didn't get him some kind of exquisite, stylish, and probably expensive ring to wear for the rest of his life and she was not buying what he was selling right now. He smiled, "Just, do your best. I love you." She folded her arms. Jasper was WAY too used to getting greatness out of her for her to be able to skate by with his wedding ring.

"Okay," she said, and rolled her eyes, still knowing better.

Whenever Jasper pulled her into the show for her birthday, she was sheepish, being on camera with Jasper's audience. They were… not the same kind of people she spent much time around and sometimes said weird things. Everything from too strong of an interest in their sex life, to trying to push children out of their relationship, to… just weird things that didn't even make sense to her. But, he wanted it to be a treat and was so excited that it was her first birthday as his fiancee and future wife that she went along with it all.

They made the video pretty early in the day. She was glad to have already been awake and doing things around her apartment whenever he got up and insisted that a day of magic was ahead of them. Charlotte had gotten a few gifts via mail and several of Jasper's fans sent stuff to his PO Box for her, too. All that she had asked her loved ones and associates for were engagement/wedding donations. She was accepting funds, coupons, gift cards, and contracts for goods and services. If someone's aunt was a baker, she wanted to get in touch with them_._ If a friend was a musician on the side, she wanted to talk to them. She really just needed to know that people who cared enough about her to want to give her anything would just give her help with this one thing that she had never thought about and was totally unprepared for. All she really had ever considered was her dress! And that was because of her interest in fashion, probably.

Adanna offered to be her "road to marriage" spiritual counselor, do wedding and house blessings and make jewelry, if she wanted. She totally accepted all of those things that she hadn't thought about a moment before they were mentioned.

Henry told her that he'd search for Jasper's ring for her. "I know ya basic!" He'd typed on her post about accepting charity and assistance on the wedding for her birthday. She just thanked him and didn't even argue with that insult. It wasn't worth it when she needed help with the ring.

Patina had told her that if she needed any help with the dress, she would be more than willing to help out. She was always SUPER VOCALLY supportive of Charlotte and Jasper, possibly out of relief that Jasper stopped bothering her at long last, some time shortly before he gained an interest in Charlotte. "The dress, I actually know exactly HOW I want it, but I'm not sure about how much it'll cost me and stuff like that."

_Piper: Make a Dress Creation Committee._

_Charlotte: Tell me what that is._

_Piper: You, me and other people of your choice that you trust will be a group that helps find material and seamstresses and stuff to make sure that your design is made into reality and whenever you can't personally handle stuff, somebody in the committee can pick up the slack._

_Henry: What, like a dress making village?_

_Piper: Yeah. Just like that._

_Henry: I'm down._

_Piper:... No. It's like bridesmaids and stuff._

_Henry: Yeah, that's me. The And Stuff Man._

_Charlotte: Adanna, Mom, Jasper's Mom, Auntie Cohort, availability? (Grimace emoji)_

_Jasper's Mom: I have a lot going on, but just keep me in the loop._

_Cohort: I might not be available for dress things, but I still have a lot of stuff in storage that you might be able to repurpose. Never wound up getting rid of a lot of our things._

_Rosemary: You know good and well your mama is on board to help with your wedding. ANY mother should be on board to help with her child's wedding!_

_Jasper's Mom: Let me know when everyone meets. I'll do my best to be there._

RAY offered to throw an engagement party for her (and Jasper), for her birthday. She didn't know why she would NEED an engagement party. Everyone was tagged for the proposal. Everyone knew that they were engaged! She told him that he could use whatever resources he would have used for an engagement party to redirect towards wedding things. "Because you were very ungrateful about my generous offer, I am going to instead throw Jasper a bachelor party!"

"Good luck. The frat bros will throw him a bigger, better, MANLIER one."

"How dare you!"

.

Henry made an effort to be in town more in the summer. He and Jasper were working on the wedding plans, even though they hadn't decided on a date yet, and fuel for the Man Copter was less than affordable, but the drive took so much longer and he also loved that he was now able to fly the copter whenever he wanted to.

"So… How's the work schedule turning out?" Henry wondered, setting his things down in Jasper's room. The dogs were there, because Charlotte had classes and Jasper just preferred that they were locked inside all day when she did.

"It's gettin' there. I was more concerned about this issue with my major."

"What's the issue with your major?"

"I still haven't picked it yet."

"That's a major issue."

"Yeah…" Jasper agreed, then they both laughed a little, before he elaborated, "Whenever Char first started talking to me about it, at the end of sophomore year, we were just getting back good and I didn't want to make things uneasy. So, I told her that I was gonna do business, and minor in finances."

"That sounds like a good plan."

"But, I think I wanna major in economics and minor in finances. I think I actually want to get a business degree and an economics degree, but I'm at the end of my junior year and my advisor is needing me to decide like yesterday, more like last year, and now I want to double major? I can't. I don't have the time or the credits. But, also… I can't let Charlotte know that I didn't do what I was supposed to. She'll lose confidence in me. I'm supposed to be marrying her in the near future. She's gotta be able to trust that I'm gonna do what I say, or she's gonna chicken out."

"Maybe, but she's also gotta be able to trust that when things didn't go as planned or plans change, that you'll be honest with her. Charlotte cares so much about you, she'll help you through it. She'll really be pissed when it inevitably comes out and you didn't let her know."

Jasper sighed and nodded, "You're right."

"So… What are you gonna do about your major?"

"I'm… gonna double major in Economics and Business. The internship should help me to be able to only have to add an additional year to my college career, if that. I'm getting a lot of experience and stuff from working there. If I get hired on, after this… I could make a lot of money. I'll make more with the right degree. I'll make enough to start a family, and if I work hard, after a little while, I can make enough to be the man of the house. Charlotte will only work because she wants to, but she won't have to, and for me… that'll be refreshing. She works so hard, Henry. Like, ALL of the time. She hasn't taken a break since we got here. She works nonstop and her peers are so crappy to her. She EARNS their respect, but they refuse to give it. Meanwhile, I just show up to class and there's excitement in it. Everybody thinks that I'm working too hard and stressing out too much, but she's really the one doing all that and she's not even having a good time. You know how skilled she is. I caught her crying because one of her supervisors talked to her like she was an idiot for 15 minutes, in front of a group and even though she remained calm in front of everyone and explained clearly what her position was, several of them basically told her that she should have just shut her mouth and it would have been over sooner. She's so emotional all of the time, but can't show it, because she'll be criticised and ridiculed and all of her hard work would be discredited, in their eyes."

"None of those things even make sense!"

"Yeah, but that's her life! And, she's wanted to work for so long in this field and she tries to remain strong and still do her job, but honestly, to me, it seems like everyone tries to beat her down. I hate it. I'm gonna do whatever I have to do to get her to where she knows that IF she doesn't want to put up with that shit, she won't have to."

"The bad thing is that knowing Char, she'll keep it up, just to prove that everybody is wrong about her."

"Most likely. What I'm hoping for is that she accepts that no matter what you do, some people, you just won't get to acknowledge your greatness. Even I know that there's just no pleasing some people, and I have a fun sized brain!"

Henry laughed about this, but turned his attention to a vision board. "Dude, is this what I think it is?" Jasper glanced over. "Is this one of Charlotte's vision boards?"

"That's MY vision board that Charlotte helped me with. We started with my aptitude test results, feedback from professors and Charlotte's affirmations about me to try to concoct a five year plan for me. Of course, it's changed a little since the engagement and the major and the internship. But… It's actually changed for the better, so we're gonna revisit it senior year and probably make a new one based on the current trajectory."

"She turned you into a brain!" Henry teased, loving it.

"Hardly. I try to pay attention to things that will help me be better because I really can't stand the thought of failing her again, or ever, in any other way. You know? Well, I don't know if you know. You never even go on dates. Where are you at, romantically speaking, anyway?"

Henry squirmed nervously and tilted his head from side to side, "I just… You know, gotta focus on making Junk N Stuff into a more reasonable and sustainable cover, and getting better at my other job, you know? I don't have time for… any of that."

Jasper made a face, "Don't have time, my butt! Charlotte is studying for multiple degrees, works in a laboratory, is involved in extracurricular academic organizations and political efforts, and has an overgrown child to raise and two dogs!"

"You and Charlotte have a kid?" Henry joked, laughing uncomfortably.

"You… deserve to find somebody who's gonna share all the stuff that you have to do with you. Charlotte worries about you all of the time. That you'll wind up like Ray."

"Ray's awesome."

"I know! But, she thinks that he probably should have somebody other than work friends in his life, and I think you probably should too. Did you guys even ever replace us?"

"There was no need. Turns out that you didn't do much mandatory work and Schwoz can do everything that Charlotte can, and he does it right away, instead of arguing when it's a horrible idea." Jasper rolled his eyes. "I'm not looking for anybody and if something happens, cool. If not, oh well." Henry shrugged his shoulders. "Nobody NEEDS a relationship."

"No, nobody does. But, whenever I'm stressed out at the office, and I can call Char and hear her smiling through the phone, I know that everything that I have to put up with on my job is worth it and I get reenergized and motivated to do a better job than I did the day before. Or, when we've both been working so long that we haven't really seen each other or talked or anything, instead of coming together and boning it out like a lot of our friends do in their relationships and wind up doing it to a complete stranger that they've drifted away from, we plan Talk-N-Touch Dates…"

"What's a Talk-N-Touch Date?"

"It's when we catch each other up on stuff, and talk about what's going on all across the board in our lives and touch while we do, Not anything dirty, just holding hands, or playing in each others hair, or like her scratching my belly, me giving her a massage, whatever. Non sexual touch, so that our only time spent together in periods of hectic schedules isn't just pushing around those hormones and chemicals in the brain, but actually connecting. And AFTERWARDS, sex is AWESOME! It's the best that we ever have on those nights."

Henry was surprised, but happy that Jasper was finally willing to mention that type of intimacy between he and Charlotte to him. It made him feel like they truly were back, in full effect. Jasper added, "I'm not saying that you need somebody to have a Pimple Popping Party, a Period Pampering or Wash Day with, but IF you had somebody who'd get rid of your blackheads and back pimples, or someone to treat like a princess her whole period, or somebody you love enough to spend HOURS trying to help her get her hair cleaned and moisturized, those are some really good building blocks for the stuff that you'll face as spouses."

"Well, I'm surely not trying to be a spouse, but living vicariously through you is sufficient. We should go out and have drinks tonight. Char said she's off tomorrow."

"Yeah. That'll be cool. You'll get to see my Drinks for Gifts Hustle."

"I… You know what, instead of asking, I'll just wait to witness it."

.

This actually began before Charlotte turned 21, but now that she was and enjoyed having drinks to unwind after craziness in the lab or in class, it got elevated. It started with coeds with crushes and flirtatious lab associates trying to impress her. They'd pay for her coffee, or lunch, or saw something and thought about her and even though she'd let them know that they didn't need to do things like that and that she actually had a boyfriend who loved doing things for her, they didn't mind and probably figured that they'd get to be on the bench, if things went wrong between them. ESPECIALLY with their break up scare. Charlotte, an honest woman who talks to her boyfriend all the time always let him know whenever somebody did one of these things. Part of her wanted to see if he'd be jealous, but the other part didn't want it to be something that became an issue later, because she knew that she didn't too much like it when women did things to woo Jasper.

But, Jasper didn't respond to things the same way that Charlotte did. He didn't get jealous, like she did. He got proud. He was always delighted to find out about a new or a constant person who wanted what he had and just couldn't have it, because HE had her. But, he also didn't care too much for people always trying to do stuff to impress her. SO, what he did was estimated the cost of things. Like, if she said, "Farud got me a caramel macchiato with a doubleshot of expresso for our lab assignment. Saved. My. Life," He knew that meant about a $13 gift from Farud. Or "Cicely GAVE ME a bottle of vanilla body scrub from Scrubbies!" He knew that was about a $20 gift. He kept record of it in his documents, and at the end of the month, put the full amount into a Charlotte savings. Every now and then, he'd get her some kind of special treat, "just because," and know that at least in his mind, he'd outbought anybody trying to impress her with their trinkets here and there.

It became much more of a challenge/more fun when she began drinking, because Charlotte was HOT and now, she seemed to know it. So, he told her never to be ashamed to accept free drinks from anybody and that she could decide whether or not she even wanted to let someone know that she had a boyfriend. SO, she always drank for free and Jasper never "had to" buy her drinks, AND, he got to put aside the money that he would have spent on her drinks to buy her special and memorable things later.

"Wow! Did you come up with that idea by yourself?" Henry wondered, watching it happen.

"Uh, yeah. I wasn't gonna be outdone by Charlotte's non lovers."

"Jasper, that's a super great idea!"

"Yeah, I have great ones about 1 out of every 15. So, if I just keep pushing out ideas, the more likely that really good ones come out. This was WAY better than that Buckets o' Meat idea that I had."

Henry vaguely remembered Charlotte talking about Jasper wanting to have a food truck at which he'd cook and serve any meat that you wanted in buckets of various sizes. She'd asked him how much he'd charge for a bucket of steaks, just to see where he was mentally and he said, "I don't like 100 bucks maybe?" Which… She promptly told him that his idea was terrible and she wouldn't support it. By now, he was definitely more financially aware. He had this gift of appraisal that he discovered through his aptitude test and Charlotte encouraged him to practice honing. Turned out that somebody who could tell you the features of thousands of buckets over the years could assess materials, labor and workmanship with other products too. He'd always been a good salesman, as well… Well… He was good at speaking up the qualities of stuff and not focusing on the negatives of it. Henry gave him a hug at the bar and he looked confused. "We used to worry about you, but I think you've got a damn good handle on your life, Man. I'm proud of you."

"Awww, Henry!"

"I'm proud of her too, and of the two of you together. I SERIOUSLY thought there was no way that this would ever go this far."

"Awww. Henry…" The tone was less positive than last time and a little bit cautionary.

"Now, there's nothing that I support more. I'm really excited about your future together, with how well you two have done together thus far."

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWW! HENRYYYYYYYYY!" This one was the happiest and Jasper gave him another hug, then looked to see what Charlotte was ordering. "Hmmm…" He pulled out his phone to snap a photo. He wasn't sure what drink that was, but he'd find it and account for it.

.

Jasper was knocked out whenever Charlotte got up. She usually didn't get hungover, no matter how much she drank and Jasper didn't drink at all, but typically slept in whenever he could. She and Henry had plans today and Jasper would have to be at the firm in a few hours for his internship. She got up and went to wash up and get ready for wherever Henry was going to bring her today. Coming out of the bathroom, Jasper was awake, but barely sitting up, brushing his teeth with the morning breath kit that she had for him in the drawer of the stand on his side of her bed. "Morning F Sized!" She cheered.

He smiled, rinsed, spit, and sat up to receive her. "Morning. Is Henry on the way?"

She nodded. "You should be asleep."

"Yeah yeah," he said and kissed her.

Henry took Charlotte to a few places in her area that he'd already spoken to or looked on their websites for things related to the wedding. "I… Just really don't understand how or why you think that you don't have time for a relationship, when you find the time to do things like this. You could be focusing on a relationship with this time," Charlotte observed.

"I _am _focusing on a relationship. On the most important relationship of my life - mine with my two best friends, who happen to be getting married and it's literally the biggest deal."

She smiled. Okay. Well, where are we off to first?"

"Well, we can't do cake. Jasper made me promise that BOTH of you gotta be there for cake, since it's the only thing that you actually care about."

"That's not accurate…"

"So, since the thing you need to be concerned about is his ring, I looked up some and wanna how them to you in person. Also, I've got Jasper's finger size and head size."

"Whhhhhhhy do we need his head size, Henry?"

"Because I found something at one of these jewelry stores that's gonna blow your balls off when you see it and I think we HAVE to get it for him…"

"Blow my…" She sighed and followed him into the store. But, whenever Henry showed it to her, she knew that he was right. It was a crown. A yellow gold medieval looking thing that had red stones, clear crystals, and silver accents. "I can get that made with jasper stones, and clear calcite or quartz. I can make him a WEDDING CROWN?"

"He'd love that, right?"

"RIGHT! I was gonna get him a trophy, but this is even better." She gasped, long and hard, "What if I do BOTH?"

"I'm on team both!"

"Me too!" She was about to alert the jeweler, but then thought about it and said, "I wonder if Adanna can make one!" She began texting her and jumped up and down, "She can! What about the ring? Is there a ring here that you wanted me to look at?"

"No. That's a different store, but… the ring is just as perfect…"

"Take me to this perfect ring!" Charlotte said, the most excited that she had been about any of the wedding planning since the proposal. Henry really was… great at this. "You oughtta be a wedding planner, Dude." He laughed. "I mean, that's not something I think that guys normally do, but the way that you know flowers, and how easily it seems for you to find stuff for us."

"That's because it's you and Jasper, Dude… But… It _has _been fun."

"You could have a little office in the shop of what you're doing with Junk N'Stuff."

"Flowers and Wedding Gifts, with a consultation to see if you want a wedding planner…" Henry thought out loud. "I could help fit the ceremony to the couple's needs and also discount the flowers if I'm used for any other planning services. Might be able to expand it to be a bridal shop, someday, with an in home florist, because that's gonna be a part of the store, no matter WHAT I end up doing with the space."

"This is perfect! And whenever I have free time, I could design a few dresses and they could be in there, boutique style for those brides that want something a little different!"

"And if you get tired of those snooty science dudes treating you like crap, WE can go into the business together!" Henry cheered. She stopped smiling for a moment, then laughed it off.

"Maybe, Hen." She said and shrugged her shoulders, "Few years ago, I would've insisted that I wouldn't touch Jasper if the ghost of Carl Sagan told me that all the knowledge of the universe would be known if I did it. Just last year, I would have assured you that I'm not getting married, no matter how in love I fall. So… Hell, by the time I graduate and have broken my back to get where I wanna be, maybe I MIGHT just decide to make dresses in Swellview." She laughed again, and he joined in. It sounded even more ridiculous now that she had spelled it out. But, it was still pretty sweet to dream with your friends.


	19. Your Mom

_Did not intend to have so many OCs here, but it's a moms-centric chapter and has some other folk you might come across in college - friends, coworkers and stuff. I gave Charlotte's mom the name Rosemary and Jasper's mom the name Pansy. Bear with me. Sorry. ILU thanks._

**Your Mom**

"Are the straights okay?" a friend typed as the caption of a post with a bride grabbing the groom and forcing him into marriage. Charlotte kept scrolling. The straights were not okay for a number of reasons, and that was one of the ones that she didn't relate to, at all. There'd be no dragging of men to the altar for her. She was almost certain that somebody might have to drag her to one, in order for it to go down, if she was perfectly honest, but she'd lucked out and managed to find a decent man who managed to remake himself into a godsend for her, and she believed it was what she deserved.

Being pampered on her period was one thing, but Jasper's nurturing was like… constant. He'd figure out that something worked and he would go for it, tried and true and be her rock through just about anything. Some people didn't like for things to remain the same. They felt like it was stagnant or got stale, but Charlotte hated change. She liked to be comfortable and the rollercoaster of fitting herself into Jasper's world was one that had been uproarious and uncomfortable. While she hated that he seemed sad that he didn't have the time to do a lot of the things that he used to, she loved not needing to dress up, go out, small talk or be seen by his friends as a bitch or a buzzkill, interact with people who were way drunker than her, and way stupider, even on their smartest days… Like… She was glad that he was too busy to socialize. But, she also felt bad about it, because Jasper thrived on that energy.

He flourished and blossomed and without it, she was worried that he might wither into his former sadness. SO, she got out of her comfort zone, hated it the entire time and plotted to try to get schedules to arrange a couple's camping trip with some of his frat bros and their current interests or partners. She felt more comfortable about doing something that they wouldn't be on campus for and able to invite every stoner and wild child in town, but something that she could also enjoy. Nature, hiking, maybe even a little partying by the campfire, or perhaps, they could rent a cabin! She still had to sort the details out whenever she could figure out when schedules would allow it. But, it also meant speaking with his bosses. Now… The tattoo parlour, it was all good. They loved him. He brought a lot of customers in, and a lot of traffic and they considered him like family - he had that effect on people. But, the internship… It was unpaid and he also hadn't been there for very long. She did some research to figure out who she might be dealing with. She knew that the guy at the firm who took him on was an alumnus of his fraternity, but she didn't know much else. A little delving couldn't hurt. This dude's name is Bart? He goes by Barty? Wait… Bartholomew Buttkiss? She cackled and kept looking. Typical WASP shit. Involved with more companies than he would ever put on the Internet, children looking like they're about to do The Purge, grandchildren looking like The Village of the Damned. Game hunting (exotic animals, asshole…), golf (eye roll), lacrosse champion… Jazz enthusiast… "Okay… Maybe I can work with this, Mr. Buttkiss." Charlotte searched through his profiles and through interviews and really put WAY more time into that than she even had into planning the actual goddamn trip! BUT…

She showed up at the firm, around when Jasper usually took a lunch break (when he might have called her), but early enough that she was able to be there whenever Barty was gonna be heading out for golf with a buddy. _Don't ask her how she found that out… _She wore a long jazz festival shirt with cute little musical notes leggings and packed a huge basket of treats, including some peach tarts, old Barty's faves and she came up to the desk as she saw him coming from out of the work area. "Hi!" She said to the receptionist, "Hoping that Jasper Dunlop is available for lunch. I can certainly wait, if he's not, but I hope it's possible to let him know that Charlotte is here. I brought some treats for your troubles." She set the basket on the desk and opened it to let the smell out. "I recommend the peach tarts. They're homemade."

Barty headed over to the desk and asked, "I'm sorry, what's happening here?"

Charlotte smiled at him and offered her hand, "Hi! I'm Charlotte. My fiance is an intern here. I'm trying to treat him to lunch, a little surprise. I brought enough treats at least for a few people."

"You said that you've got peach tarts, huh?" Barty asked and looked into the basket, then helped himself. He made a bunch of obnoxious noises that she almost broke character behind, before declaring, "These are some of the best peach tarts I've ever tasted! You made these? Mmmm." He grabbed another.

"I did! I didn't know what to make, so I have a selection of stuff here. Help yourself."

"Jasper, was it? He's a good kid. You're his fiance?" He gave her a lookover, and she couldn't tell if he was judging her or just looking. "I didn't realize that he was engaged."

"It's new. I'm trying to make sure that I'm a good, supportive woman, you know, but you can't tell a man anything when he's used to doing things and being successful. I'm trying to plan a camping trip, for instance, and he INSISTS that there's no way that he'd ever be able to take the time off. He's never gonna ask for it, so I have to just do what I can and squeeze in these little moments where I can, you know? Gotta make sure that he knows that I love him enough to bake for the office and set up picnics."

"Are you gonna be a housewife?"

"In this economy?" She asked, and laughed. "No. I mean, he wants to be the breadwinner, but I'm actually one of the top people in my class and already working professionally in my field, lower level things. We've all gotta start someplace, right? I'm at Ridgemont Diagnostics…"

"REALLY?" He was impressed. "Are you a debutante?"

"Oh, no… I'm doing all of it on this," she pointed to her temple.

"Interesting. Well, listen, when does Jasper need some time off? He's an intern. It's not like the place will fall apart without him."

"Yeah, I know. It's more like he's just passionate about proving himself and earning his keep. I was thinking definitely a weekend before hunting season kicks off. Him, some of the fraternity guys and their lovely ladies, just taking a break, you know?"

"Of course. Listen, here… what was your name again?"

"Charlotte Page, Sir."

He dug into his wallet and gave her a business card. "I want to get that tart recipe from you and you can email me when you want to take Jasper away. AND a jazz fan?" He said, noting her shirt, "I didn't really know that kid had such good taste. His wardrobe is… interesting. Very nice to meet you." He grabbed another tart and went on his way. It was a few minutes before Jasper ever came out.

He was smiling, in a simple button shirt with a very bright tie which she said, "Hey, F Sized… Stop wearing ties to work. Or wear like… old man ones that your boss might like."

"He says that my ties are interesting."

"Yeah, he told me the same thing. But, it was the _way _he said it." He nodded and removed the tie. "So… Just so you know, you're gonna have a free weekend and you, me, Coogie, Snek, and Fisher are gonna go camping."

"What are you talking about?"

"I just wooed your boss for a free weekend for you and the fellas are gonna bring a girl and we're going camping near the mountains."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you haven't been able to do anything that you enjoy with your friends, and I knew that I could most likely ask your boss without making it seem like YOU were trying to get out of work. Come on, I've got you some maple bacon pies and an extra thick milkshake. It's thicker than you," she said and winked at him. Whenever they got outside, she also pinched his butt. "I love that thing," she said, smiling fondly at it.

.

_Hey, I am taking Jasper on a camping trip with some of his buddies. Can you look at the list of stuff that I'm bringing along and tell me if I left anything off? *Sends list*_

_Rosemary: Baby, I've never been camping before in my life, but I know that you've never been ill prepared for anything, a single day of your life. I'm sure if there's something to think about that you've thought about it. Some of that stuff, I wouldn't have even thought of._

_Adanna: Friend, I think that you're overthinking your relationship every since the ring. You know what's best for yourself and Jasper. You've known for years, from what he's told me and his dad. He thinks that you're the smartest person alive and the most caring. Just trust yourself. You don't need to ask us these things._

_Charlotte: I just have never thought that I would ever be a fiancee or wife and it seems like I have to, idk, do something above and beyond? No?_

_Rosemary:You think that I'm over here going above and beyond? Honey, your dad is lucky if he gets my best as exhausting as it is to live with a man. As long as you love him, that will show up in how you treat him and what you do. There doesn't need to be extra stuff…_

Charlotte started another chat, with just her mother and Adanna: _Okay… but, Jasper has a very rocky childhood and his family wasn't really very loving, so I feel the way that I feel because I feel like I have to still undo some of the programming he's had of what love is. I've sent him "I love you" messages before he goes to bed, every single night for almost 4 years now, just to try to get it in his mind that who loves you is the person who does nice things for you and to you. I have reminders in my phone to give him compliments, just as a self esteem booster, even though I know he gets plenty of fan love or whatever. I just… wanna do this right, you know? I didn't wanna say all that in front of his mom. _

_Rosemary: Would she even care?_

_Charlotte: I don't know, but he would. That's his mom. He'll always love her, no matter what._

_Rosemary: I dread my grandchildren being exposed to somebody like that._

_Adanna: Why don't you have everyone over and try to speak with her about the things that are unresolved? _

_Charlotte: Like… everyone? Why not just you and Mom? _

_Adanna: Sure, that sounds good to me._

_Rosemary: I'll do anything for you, Charlotte. She'd better watch herself…_

_._

She planned it for after the camping trip, which was fine. She wasn't super excited to spend time with Jasper's friends, but somehow, they were all so much more bearable than they usually seemed. Maybe _everyone _was growing up now, but not too much. All the ladies kept asking about wedding details and Jasper loved dishing about that, while Charlotte just kind of smiled uncomfortably, not wanting to admit that she didn't know half this information and sort of having to bond with the fellas anytime it started up. "How'd he finally convince you?" Fisher asked. "I wanna know what to avoid." He winked at her and she rolled her eyes. He simply clanked his beer bottle against hers and took a drink.

"I've known for a while that I'd be with Jasper for a long time, if he remembered that I care, and he eventually did." She shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her rose beer (which was the only beer that she drank); she was a wine or daiquiri girl.

"Well, he initially told us whenever he first mentioned you that you were the woman he wanted to marry. I'm talking when we were pledging. He was all stressed out and sweaty, worried about the amount of time and energy he had to put into pledging. I thought he was crazy, but then we saw you and I was like, Ahhh, I get it now."

"I don't know what that means."

"That you're hot," he said and smiled. She pursed her lips and looked at him. "What?"

"You're the dude who had everyone calling me Warden Page freshman year!"

"So?" She scoffed and shook her head. "Anyway, when are you two getting married?"

"Probably after senior year. I'll still have some studies, but by that time, Jasper will probably be restless being a fiance and want to get the official stuff done."

"When you say senior year, you mean like after next year, or after Big Dog gets the rest of his credits?" She looked confused. "With the whole major change thing…?"

"Oh! Oh, _that!" _She had no idea wtf he was talking about, "Yeah. Probably after THAT. The whole major thing…" She stuffed the bottle back into her mouth, finished and said, "I'm gonna go to the cooler for another. You need one of yours?"

"Yes, please, Warden Page." She narrowed her eyes but was smiling gently.

.

Charlotte waited until after the trip to ask Jasper, "So… what is the whole major thing… something with your credits?" He thought for a moment, then realized that they hadn't discussed this yet and also that someone must've brought it up.

"Okay, I meant to talk to you about it, but I hadn't figured out how to, just yet."

"Why not in the same way that you told your bros?" She said, with a tight smile, trying not to be angry. Whatever this was, they could handle it.

"Well, I told them because I didn't know if I'd need to stick around and live in the frat house for a little longer, because I switched to a double major and might have to add about a year, probably less! To… to… my transcript…" He looked so worried that she was going to be upset with him, but she was relieved. She didn't know what she thought that he'd say, but she thought it was about to be awful.

"Okay. Well, next time, please talk to me about things like this. Why… Why don't we just… Maybe get an apartment together or something? I know that you're at mine a lot already, but it's a little small for you to you know, move all of your things in."

"I'd prefer that we waited until after I'm done with school."

"Okay… do you also wanna wait until then to get married?"

"Yeah. I think it's the responsible thing to do, right?" He gave her a half smile, tentative, like he was really waiting on her to answer him.

"Right… But, also… if you're reconsidering… I get it… I'd you know… understand…"

His eyes grew wide, "You'd _understand? _I wouldn't understand that at all. Why would _I _have second thoughts about being with _you?" _

"I don't know. You just were super excited and ready to marry me ASAP, and now, you're going to school longer, don't wanna live with me AND want to prolong the wedding date."

"I don't want any of those things. I'm trying to make sure that I'm doing right by the woman who says that she'll have me for the rest of my life. That's something I take more serious than anything else. We're gonna be a family, build a family… I'm not gonna build it on immature mistakes and hollow hopes. I'm… trying to do the work to be good enough."

"You're beyond good enough."

"Good enough to feel good about it all. If we get an apartment and I have to cut corners somewhere, or accumulate debt or something - that affects us negatively and I just… I'm not doing that. I refuse to do that. I'm gonna be a good man, but also a real man."

"You're already that, Jasper. Never forget this, please?" She gave him a hug and kissed him on the chin, then grabbed a handful of butt. It was right there, so she kinda had to.

"I appreciate the level of butt stuff that I've gained by proposing," he said and pulled her in by hers to kiss her. She didn't know what he was talking about. She'd been playing on that donk since year one… She used to bounce stuff off of it.

.

Henry had the pleasure of bringing Jasper's mom to Charlotte's. Rosemary and Adanna rode together and pulled in shortly before Henry did. Henry and Jasper rushed to hug each other upon his arrival and Henry had a huge binder with material, colors, etc… stuff that you just wouldn't be able to see very well on the computer or phone. He said he'd go say hi to Char and Jasper smiled towards his mother and said, "Thank you so much for coming. It really means a lot to us that you made the time." She nodded, but didn't offer anything else. But, whenever Rosemary and Adanna got out of Adanna's van both women squealed happily and rushed to hug him.

Charlotte sighed from the window as Henry came in and looked over her shoulder. "Whatcha lookin' at?"

She shook her head, "She didn't even try to hug him. Everybody hugged him BUT her. This is the type of stuff that I have to help him through. She doesn't even TRY! Why have a kid?"

"At least she only had one."

The others came inside and Adanna immediately placed her hand over her heart, "I love the energy in this place, so much." Rosemary hugged her daughter, then Adanna and Charlotte pulled Pansy into a hug, whether she wanted it or not. Jasper wrapped his hands around Charlotte's waist from the back and said, "Let me know if you need anything." He kissed her on the cheekbone and said, "I'm gonna look at this wedding stuff Hen's got." Lady and Tramp came running out of the bedroom and Jasper called them over to him, and he and Henry each grabbed one and went out to the patio with them and their stuff.

"Want a drink or anything?" Jasper wondered.

"What have you got?"

"Juice or like all kinds, water, and I'm sure Char has some wine and rose beer."

"Rose beer? That sounds gross. Is it gross?"

"No idea. I don't drink, Man."

"Oh yeah. I mean, I know you don't drink, but you haven't curiously tasted it or anything?"

"Naw. I don't need to put that shit in my body," Jasper said, petting Tramp's head. Really, he was afraid of drinking. What if he had a problem with it, like his dad? He wasn't gonna risk Charlotte the way that Jack Leigh had risked he and his mom. Speaking of, he glanced into the living room to see Charlotte inviting the ladies to be seated and letting them know what refreshments she had available.

.

"There's sweet potato bites, varying garnishing like avocado, tomato and radish sprouts, or ricotta, cranberry walnut… I couldn't decide which recipe was better. There's also cucumber wrapped chicken or seafood with greek yogurt dip… some fruit, and Jasper's got some goat and lamb in the kitchen… for dinner, with the sides and stuff. Anyway! There's also spritzers."

"Charlotte, relax. Have a seat," Rosemary advised. "We're not hard to please. We're here to support you, not for food."

"Thanks, Mom." She sat down and asked Jasper's mom, "How are you? How was the drive?"

She looked put on the spot, but answered politely, "Henry drove. It was fine."

Charlotte nodded and smiled, then sat back in her seat. "Jasper took off tonight from the parlor, so that he and Henry could catch up, but he's probably gonna pop in and out of here, just because he worries a lot. I'm thinking of suggesting that he moves on up to an in-person therapist. He's been doing the therapy text service for years now and I think it's been super helpful, but I really think that he could benefit more from someone face to face." Pansy squirmed a little, but she didn't say anything. "For instance, he told me that he just wants to get everything right, he doesn't wanna get a divorce or remarry or anything like that, so he's tacked on some more courses and we're not going to get married or officially move in together until after that's done."

"That sounds like a wise choice!" Rosemary offered.

"It is, but it's not Jasper, you know? He's impulsive. He's very take action. He doesn't usually plan it out this way."

"That's your influence, Sweetheart. Be proud of it."

"I just really want us to be married already!" Charlotte said and was embarrassed after she did.

"Oh my God… Are you pregnant?" Pansy sat up abruptly and asked.

"What? No! I have a perfect GPA and educational and career trajectory. If I get pregnant, it's gonna be on purpose, even with your son's virility."

Rosemary recoiled, "What does that mean?"

Casually, Charlotte said, "Oh, I took a sample from him to test it in the lab. He is extremely fertile. We won't have any issues whenever we're ready to create children… I just really love him and ever since he proposed, all that I can think about is what it's gonna be like to be his wife. I know that isn't very feminist, but he's the kind of person that you just know will be excellent at these things. I'm slightly impatient about it and now it's being pushed further away."

Rosemary smiled and told the others, "I know what's happening here. Whenever Jasper proposed, Charlotte's brain plotted out a timeline of events and she maybe even made a vision board shortly afterwards to factor in that she now was gonna be a wife, and she's made the adjustments and committed them to memory. She likes comfort and a huge change is making her uncomfortable, therefore, anxious. All she needs is a new plan of action for her timeline, but she does not like to have to change plans."

"Mom, I am VERY versatile. I've had to make a lot of adaptable changes at work."

"Changes that affected your home life?" Her mom asked. Charlotte frowned and grabbed a sweet potato. "Thought so. So… where do things change, on your last timeline?"

"I THOUGHT that I was getting married in less than a year… but now it's closer to two years."

"Have you told Jasper about how much you want to marry him sooner?" Adanna asked.

"No. I could tell he was serious about the route that he wants to go and I wanted to make sure that I don't persuade him into anything that he might resent me for later. He's very… afraid of making mistakes with serious stuff. I can't pressure him knowing how scared he is of failing."

"You don't pressure him. I'm suggesting just telling him how you feel."

She looked at his mom, "What do you think about it?"

"I think that kids get married so quickly these days and then they just fall apart. It's better to wait." Rosemary rolled her eyes and Pansy quickly tacked on, "I did the same thing and it affected my only child for the rest of his life and affected my life, too. So, I'm just throwing caution into the wind. Be sure that it's what you are willing to do, not just what you think that you want."

"My daughter makes good decisions," Rosemary said.

"I'm sure."

"What do you mean, "I'm sure?" Rosemary asked, her eyebrows up in challenge.

Pansy sighed and said, "She makes good grades and what-have-you. I don't doubt that she's a smart girl. I also know that being smart isn't the only qualifier for being a good wife or good partner…"

"What are the other qualifiers on your list, Miss Pansy?" Charlotte asked and Rosemary leaned in closer, with pursed lips staring almost directly into Pansy's face. Charlotte tried really hard not to snap, but since BEFORE she and Jasper were together, when she hadn't even been a consideration, this woman had an issue with her and she was convinced it was because she was too brown for her liking, but she wanted to hear her admit to something, since they had the air and opportunity.

"Well, you have to be willing to put up with a lot. Jasper is very needy and demanding. You've gotta have a lot of patience. He's sweet, but not the smartest boy around and can haphazardly jump into unwise decisions. He wants a lot of attention and validation, and can be extremely exhausting about it…"

"Ever think that was because he was starved for those things?" Charlotte reflexively asked. Pansy gasped and Rosemary snorted. Adanna covered her mouth with a hand, but didn't react beyond that. Charlotte was there, now. The woman had taken her there. "Listen, I can't say that you made bad decisions. I don't know your heart or your mind. I don't know your intentions. What I can say is that I know Jasper. He's NOT needy and demanding. He wants someone to show him love and he _deserves _that, so to me - that isn't a burden. He's VERY smart. But, he doesn't know everything. He was semi-sheltered and didn't have a frame of reference for a lot of stuff, but whenever he had the chance to go out into the world and learn and experience things, instead of having conversation topics and true facts withheld from him, whether out of misplaced protectiveness or shirking uncomfortable responsibility - Jasper is an all A student who is seen as an activist in this town. He's a community leader. He still has weird ideas sometimes, but he's also helped reformed a lot of things around here that a lot of these people didn't have the drive or the heart to ever face head on and try to tackle. And it isn't exhausting that he wants lots of attention and validation. It's heartbreaking, because I know for a fact that he didn't get it from home and I know that I have to be one of the most present and stable suppliers of it, because even though he's shown everyone that none of the things you just said about him are accurate, you still _treat _him that way, and your his mom, the person that he would most want to treat him how he deserves to be treated. He has to get that from Internet fame, from campus popularity, from town celebrity, and whenever he comes home to me, it still wasn't what he was looking for, because he wants it real, from somebody that he loves. Currently, that's me. I'm that supply. We've been together almost 4 years now, and you have yet to tell him that you're proud of him, or that he's made a good decision, or that you LOVE him, WITHOUT invalidating it shortly after with some contradictory behavior. You have yet to tell him that you're _happy _for him, for winning competitions and trophies, and making dean's lists and having a hand in public policy reform. Are you… a fucking soulless monster?" Charlotte's voice cracked. Rosemary was ready to fight, now. Hurting your own child was bad enough, but now she had spread her malice to Rosemary's child and that wasn't something that Bolton folk tolerated.

Jasper had peeked into the room and saw Charlotte's face and told Henry he'd be back. The woman turned whenever the patio door opened and Jasper threw a pissed off glance in Pansy's direction, certain that whatever was wrong with Charlotte, she was the cause of it. "Babe, you okay?" He asked, in a gentle tone and went right to her, collecting her hands and trying to get her to make eye contact with him. "Come on, let's regroup, okay?" He helped her up and brought her into the bedroom. Their mothers began to quietly bicker about what had just happened and what had been happening. Jasper sat Charlotte on the bed and told her, "If you want her to leave, I'll go tell her to leave, right now. No questions asked." He cupped her cheek. "She can hurt me all she wants, but I draw the line at her hurting you. You do too much and you don't deserve that."

"You don't either."

"I know, I know, but…"

"But she's your mom and you love her? But, what? She raised you? At least she was there? Please, help me understand why she's so important to you that she gets to hurt you for 22 consecutive years and be brought along with you while you try to break out of the cocoon of that strife?"

"I… will let her go, if that's what you think I should do."

"I don't… That's not what I'm trying to do - make you feel like you need to let your mom go. I just want to understand it."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Well… I want to know that I did everything in my power to make sure that she felt like I was worth it. I want to feel like IF I ever did have to leave her behind, there was no other choice. I just don't like the thought of leaving somebody behind just because they're not who you'd want them to be. She didn't do that to me. She kept me close, and she could've given me up. She let relationships fall apart whenever her husbands didn't want me. She… wasn't perfect, but she tried. I think that she's been hurt, too. And she doesn;t have anybody else to tell her to contact a therapist, or focus in hard on loving her, and trying to build with her… I'm it. I'm all that she has. My stepdad doesn't even look at her anymore. I know how it feels to have people around and still feel lonely. I don't want that for my mom, no matter if she's not nice to me. No matter if she might deserve that. Because, what if she doesn't? What if there's something that we just don't know and she doesn't know how to tell us? I just… don't want to hurt anybody like that. Not even her."

"But, you would, if you thought that was what I wanted?"

"I would do what was best for you, if I had no other options, yes."

She sighed and shook her head, "I'd never ask you to sacrifice your morals. I just hate that those are what brings you pain." She cupped his face and they kissed. As though kissing could release every bit of stress and turmoil carried into the room and nothing else could. It was a moment before Jasper noticed that they weren't alone. He broke the kiss and turned to stare at his mother, who was staring at the ground. Charlotte's eyes followed, then she rolled them and got up to leave. Pansy caught her wrist, gently, then quickly let go.

"I'm sorry," she said in a quiet voice. That was new. She let go of Charlotte and looked up at Jasper. Charlotte stuck around. "I should have been better to you, for you. It's entirely possible that I resented you, because of Jack… That's not fair and nobody ever wants to admit it. We want to think that we did our best and that we were good parents. We make a ton of excuses. Mine being, at least I was around, at least I wasn't a drunk who almost killed him in car, at least I didn't hang out with potheads and shady musicians and witches!" Jasper was speechless. She came into the room and sat next to him. "I hated your father. I still hate him. Whenever I agreed to let him see you, I hated it, but it seemed like what you wanted, so I tried. He was cordial. He seemed like he was changed, like he was trying… then he showed up one day with this WOMAN who he'd met through Roscoe Bolton, of all people!"

"You mean Adanna? The nicest woman in the world, who he met through Uncle Rox, the coolest dude in the world?" Jasper corrected her.

"I mean Adanna, who I recognized as a woman who built up a witch shop on her marijuana revenue, who he met through one of the only people that I've ever hated as much as Jack!"

"Wait. You hate MY uncle? Everybody loves my uncle, and it doesn't make sense to me because he's always been kind of a wreck until a few years ago, but what did you have against my uncle?"

"He wasn't good company!" Pansy practically squealed. "He didn't make Jack do anything, so it's not like I blame him for Jack's discrepancies, but first of all, he was a shady musician, always convincing Jack to come with him on tours for weeks, despite knowing that he had a pregnant wife at home who needed him…"

"You also needed money and Dad's job wasn't making enough. Those tours were!" Jasper fussed, defensively. She'd hit a nerve bringing Uncle Rox into this, especially after whatever she'd done to upset Charlotte.

"I would have preferred to struggle a little bit than to be lonely and depressed while I was pregnant. And Roscoe kept introducing him to women, who like I said, it's not his fault, but why even do so? Just remind him to call me. Why is it so hard to just say, 'I know we're touring, but don't forget why you're doing this?' You know why? Because he understood, like Jack did that the only reason he married me was because of you and when I saw that he was still communicating with that man and still meeting women through him, I figured he was probably still going on tours, smoking pot, drinking, losing himself in the arms of some pretty thing and trying to clean up for his visits and I-" She clenched her fists. "I wasn't going to be that stupid anymore. I didn't expect to take my anger out on you. I didn't expect to treat you like you were Jack and I didn't expect to treat your friend like she was Roscoe, but whenever I saw the two of you together, all I could think about were the nights that all I got was a drunken phone call asking about my son, who I was at home with, by myself, stressed, depressed, infuriated and barely holding it together, while he partied and drank and couldn't hold down a decent job to save his miserable life. You came home one day, and said that you met this cool dude, your friend's uncle. You were so excited to meet him and you thought he was so cool and looked up to him and I knew who he was and I told you to stay away from him. You ignored me. You never ignored me, but you did… Like your father."

"Okay," Charlotte interrupted, sick of this, "I get that. I would be extremely pissed off at people who affected my life in that way too, but Jasper didn't do that to you."

"I realize that. I'm not making any excuses. I'm just… trying to… open up to my son…"

Charlotte sighed and said, "Okay. Jasper, I'm gonna be out here, if you need me." She didn't want to hear any more of this, but Jasper looked worried about her leaving. "Unless you want me to stay?"

"Please?" He asked, in a low voice. She returned to his side and wrapped her hands around his, looking at his crying mom with zero sympathy. As far as she was concerned, the woman was turning things around and what she just needed to say were a few things: **I was wrong. I'm sorry. You deserve better. I will do better. **Charlotte didn't give a damn about any other words. But, she looked at Jasper's empathetic face. He did. He gave a damn about this woman. He always would. THIS was one of those sacrifices that people spoke about. Because, there was no way that she could be with him and not have to put up with this chick, at least sometimes. She freed one of her hands to stroke his hair and it broke his trance a little bit. He glanced at her and smiled, his eyes lit up and for a moment, he forgot that he was listening to this sob story from the person who had hurt him for most of his life.

"I'm so sorry. I was wrong and I don't know how to fix it, but I want to try. That's why I've been trying to be involved and why I'm here. I just want to do better in the future…" Pansy eventually uttered. Charlotte could almost visibly see a huge weight lifted off of Jasper's chest and shoulders and mind… Like… She could visually spot the worry lines evaporate and see the insecurity melt away. It was extremely weird, but beautiful. And, she still didn't have a fuck to give about that lady, but the way that Jasper hugged her, the comfort that he took in that declaration, whether or not Charlotte trusted it, it made her heart swell. He deserved those things. And she'd better be true about trying to give them to him.


	20. In the Cards

**In the Cards**

Henry pretty much had mapped out everything that would possibly be needed for the wedding, and even though Charlotte believed that waiting an additional year was a lot of time, he knew that it was actually good to give it some time to acquire everything. This way, they could save up for some of the expenses and also, probably actually plan a honeymoon of some sort. He also liked the idea of not having to be forcing a lot of details at the end of his college career, too. That additional year meant that he could focus more on his senior year things and less inb the wedding planning… though he was looking into some details about possibly opening at least an office in Junk N' Stuff where he could do wedding type things. "One more floor needs to be added and Junk N Stuff needs to be up there, and the wedding boutique down here," He was saying to Nate the Contractor. "Piper made some plans in drafting class."

Ray didn't care what Henry did with the store, as long as he didn't have to pay for any of it. He most certainly WOULD be paying for it, but Henry knew that he'd be able to make it back up with the actual revenue that he'd get for the business. He was a little bit nervous to try to begin this project after Adanna's reading. She had pulled a couple of cards that weren't really that great and explained them to him, trying to sound kind, but serious. One of them was the Devil, which he chuckled about and made a joke, "I know that Dude," and she informed him that this card meant that he had some type of toxic attachment and was possibly very comfortable in it and a little reckless about it. "Oh, it's you and Ray," Charlotte said and laughed. Henry furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. They weren't _toxic, _just misunderstood and didn't necessarily bring out the very best in each other. But, they were in tune and had been for a long time and would be for a long time, so _Bite It, Devil. _

The next card was the Death card, which… the name and photo alarmed everyone BUT her. She explained that it didn't necessarily mean that anybody was dying, but more than likely some type of life altering change (a bad one, probably). She pulled it in the present position, so it was either already in motion or at the start, at least (if he were to take stock in those cards), and it would be something that he couldn't stop or control.

When she pulled the last card, her whole countenance fell and Henry felt his heart sink. "Is somebody gonna die, now?" He asked, jokingly, but nervously.

The woman looked at him with soft eyes and said, "Hopefully not. It's just such a spread of strife that I feel deep empathy for you and your journey. This is the Ten of Wands. It means that you're suffering, or about to suffer." He looked at the guy on the card, carrying this bundle of sticks. Looked heavy… He was carrying a heavy load. "This card isn't generally okay, in any spread, but along with the Devil, and Death, well, I worry that you've got a long, hard journey in your near future and I worry that maybe you've _had _one for some time."

His eyes were damp. He certainly couldn't tell her about Kid Danger, but he knew that was probably what she was seeing in these cards… IF he was going to believe that there was any merit to this little trick… "Yeah, well… I work hard for a difficult man, but I can handle it," he said and forced a smile. She nodded, but got up to gather some things for him. She hadn't gathered things for the others, after their readings, so he was kinda worried, but he'd take whatever it was that she had.

"This is a mugwort and lavender smudge stick," she said, gathering a few of them and putting them in a see through bag with a little instruction card. "These are ritual baths…" She grabbed a box and set a few jars into it. She set it down and was going through cabinets and searching for things that she certainly knew where they were, but Henry got the feeling that she felt like he needed a lot of work… She pulled out a little doll and he smiled awkwardly. "This… you can take the things that trouble you and attach to it, then burn it." She handed it to him as his eyes went wide.

"This… is getting to be a lot."

"You have a lot in your past and a lot ahead of you," she said and grabbed another poppet, for good measure and put it into his box. "Anything beyond these little helps, I'll have to actually come to you and guide you through. I don't want to overload you with rituals and practices." She placed the bags and things into his box, added a few other items - tea, soaps, oils, and crystals, all with information cards attached or tied to them and she handed it to him.

"That's like hundreds of dollars worth of stuff!" Charlotte observed.

"What?" Henry asked and tried to give it back.

"I'm not charging you," Adanna said, avoiding the box. "It's a gift. For a friend of Jack Leigh's son. You'll need them more than I need the money for them."

.

And, so far, things hadn't been terrible or anything, as far as he noticed, but he had been worried about things since then. Charlotte was, too, at first. She would ask him questions almost everyday about how everything was going and how he was feeling. She'd _made the time _to text him everyday and ask about him. He worried a little more because of this and told her as much. So, she stopped, but would ask Jasper, "Did you talk to Henry today? Is he alright?" Then, she wouldn't even be satisfied when Jasper told her yes, because she presumed that he was probably assuming that Henry was alright and maybe that Henry was lying about it. Jasper had taken to just telling her all of the stuff that Henry did say when they spoke.

"You talk to Henry? Is he okay?"

"He said that he thinks he finally found a botanical garden that we might be able to rent out for the wedding. He and your mom are gonna go check it out this weekend."

_Or_

"You talk to Henry? Is he okay?"

"You'll never believe what he said that Piper managed to convince Ray to do...Put a JUICE AND SMOOTHIE BAR inside of Junk N' Stuff. Between her and Henry, that place is really gonna be somewhere that you can get all of the junk and all of the stuff."

She stopped asking and Henry and Jasper sincerely hoped that she'd stopped worrying. They both did, after she left the subject alone. She was getting much too busy anyway. Technically, this was the senior year for her first double degree. She was working in a lab, had a full load of classes, and was still "involved" in her extracurriculars on campus. She was neck and neck for the top of the class spot, after having averaged 3rd or 4th for a couple of years, and well… the other candidate was a little bit more involved with things outside of academia. Which, technically shouldn't count, but really did chap her hide.

So, whenever some things took place with Henry, he didn't want anyone to panic or anything and just tried to keep things to himself and not worry too much about it all. Piper was at the Man Cave pretty much every moment that she wasn't at school and he felt a way about it, but didn't question it much. She helped him to move into his "apartment," which was one of the clear Man Caves, in the living segment and he was shocked at how helpful she was being, but welcomed the help, because they hardly really hung out outside of work, and she didn't even work there, she had simply declared herself a part of the team and kept showing up. But, whenever she showed up on his elevator and came in with a few bags, he finally thought about the fact that she had not really been home very much lately and he was curious as to why, now.

"Mom officially left," she said, trying not to cry. "Dad is useless. Her new partner is not great with kids, not even his own and I just… Can I stay here for a little while? I can probably arrange something else, soon."

"Shut up and come in," he said.

They sat down at the couch and she dropped her things to the floor. "I didn't bring move in stuff. Just stuff for a few days. Hopefully that's long enough for him to stop crying. He's just like… wailing. All night and all day. I don't even think that he's gone to work, or know if he still has a job. I want to insult him and lash out at him and tell him this is one of the reasons that she left him… but… that would just be mean and wouldn't account for the fact that she left me too." Her voice was small. "Anyway, I haven't gotten a lot of sleep the last few days. Weeks, if I'm being more honest. I could tell that something was going on. She was disappearing a lot, even more than usual. He was trying to bond a lot more than usual. The whole atmosphere of the house was just off and I tried to avoid being there, but no matter when I came in, one of them was there being weird, or nobody was there and it just felt empty. What's it gonna be like when I go back in a few days?" She wondered.

Henry sighed and shook his head, "You don't have to go back to that. Get some sleep and when you're feeling better, I'll help you go get the rest of your stuff. You can stay here for however long you want."

"Thanks. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about what was happening. You['ve just seemed like you had a lot on your mind. You're in college. You're Kid Danger. You have no friends. I just didn't wanna be a burden anymore. I know that I was for a long time. You practically raised me. I didn't know who else to turn to. I have all these friends, but none of them understand it like I think you do."

Henry furrowed his eyebrows. "You've never been a burden. I mean, yeah, I hated having to watch you so much when I was a kid, but I was a kid. And… You're _still _a kid. ONE of them should be looking after you."

"They've never really been good at that."

"Well, hopefully I can do, in a pinch."

"You can do, on the regular. I was such a bratty and shitty kid… I sometimes wonder how much worse would I have been if you hadn't been here for me…"

"Okay, now I know you're tired. I'll bring your stuff into a bedroom. You need anything else?"

"No. I'm just gonna text Charlotte and let her know that everything's okay. She called earlier to check in and heard Dad in the background."

Henry gasped and said, "Hey! Maybe this is it! The toxic relationship could just as easily have been our parents, not necessarily RAY. This is a life altering change, for the Death card! And… maybe this burden will be helping pick up the pieces… only, that's not a burden for me, but I could see how it could be read that way. YES! Whew. I can stop worrying."

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about," she said. He just smiled, nodded and gave her a hug. "Okay. I know that I came to you, but this is more than I need," she said, but wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly, then started crying. She dropped her phone on the floor and sobbed. Henry looked at it. It didn't break or anything, but the fact that Piper was so upset that she hadn't even rushed to it said that helping her get over this might be harder than he initially thought. That didn't matter though. This was his sister. He loved her. He'd be here for whatever she needed while this stuff was going on.

.

Charlotte was searching frantically for her jewelry set. She had JUST seen it like five minutes ago! Piper walked into the room and wondered, "What are you looking for?"

"My jasper jewelry set that Adanna made me for graduation!" she said, in a panic.

Piper picked up a small red box and wondered, "Is it this?"

Charlotte looked up, sighed and smiled, "Thanks. I'm nervous. You'd think that I never graduated before, but I almost forgot how much I hate to have to give a speech in front of people. Thank you for helping me get ready."

"All I've done is helped you find a box and eat off of your fancy ice cream."

Charlotte winced, "Awww, Man… That was Jasper's fancy ice cream. Now, I'm gonna have to buy him some more."

"I'm sure he'll live."

"You've never lived with him while he's having a craving. He's a HUGE baby!" Charlotte said.

"He doesn't even live here…" Piper said, but looked around the room and definitely could see all the Jasper-ness in the place.

"He's here more than me," Charlotte offered. Then mumbled as she put on her jewelry set, "But, still won't move in or officially look for another apartment with me."

"You guys oughtta get a house, anyway. You work for Ridgemont Diagnostics. That's like working for Lexcorp."

"No! Evil Corporation is like working for Lexcorp. This is more like working for… Stark Industries… sort of. I mean… There's not a good comic book equivalent. We help the world."

"I meant fiscally. You have to be able to afford a house, right?"

"I probably could, but I think that Jasper wants to buy our first house," She checked her jewelry in the mirror. The set was an assortment of jaspers in rose gold - earrings, a necklace, a bracelet and a ring. She loved it. Jasper had some things to do before her graduation, so Piper was going to drive her there (Piper was coming into town to be at the graduation anyway and Charlotte hated driving, much more when she was nervous), and nervous, she was. But Piper broke into her nervous thoughts.

"And, just because he wants to, you're gonna wait on him to be able to, even though you already can? That seems… not like you."

"I mean… I've changed a lot. I make compromises. Jasper makes compromises. There's things far more important to me than buying a house." Charlotte packed her bag and grabbed her steamed and pressed graduation gown, then searched for her hat. Piper grabbed it and held it out to her, with a questioning face, although she was sure that was precisely what Charlotte was looking for. It was. She took it and laughed, "Let's go."

"Seriously… It's a good idea to go ahead and just have your own things, anyway. You can have a house on the side. If you just have to have Jasper buy your first house, I recommend still getting one for yourself, or at least some property. You never know. Sometimes, people drift apart. Sometimes, people just give up on each other. While I can't imagine Jasper ever doing that… I can't imagine you not realizing one day that you married Jasper Freakin' Dunlop." She laughed, but it was fake. Charlotte stared at her, but didn't argue. She saw that this wasn't about her and Jasper at all and Piper usually didn't want to talk about what happened with her parents a few months prior.

"I'll make sure that I take care of myself," Charlotte promised, then paused and wondered, "Are you taking care of yourself, Piper?"

Piper forced a smile, "Things don't really bother me like they used to. I'm okay." A lie, but Charlotte didn't feel like she had the right to push. For one thing - she couldn't even IMAGINE her parents suddenly breaking up, especially while she was still living there. For another, she unfortunately hadn't been as present in Piper's life as she probably should've to someone that she saw essentially as a little sister. Someone, who she'd gone to whenever she needed another girl to gab with. She'd… not been a good enough friend to try to press her now for something this serious.

"Well, in the event that you aren't, I'm here for you. OR in the event that you are. I let us drift apart whenever I came here and I'm sorry for that. But, I promise, that even if I'm busy, you can always come to me."

Piper wanted to say some things. She really, REALLY wanted to open up to Charlotte and tell her all of the things that she couldn't even tell Henry about how badly she was feeling, but Charlotte was about to graduate and receive not one, but TWO degrees, at once and her makeup was done and she was already flustered and losing everything not attached to her body. It would've been unfair to bother her with this stuff. She felt bad enough distracting Kid Danger with it all. "Thanks, but I'm fine."

.

Charlotte told herself not to look towards the crowd. She didn't want to be aware of how many people were there… or how many people _weren't. _Jasper had texted her several times to update her on where he was and whenever she was arriving at the center, he was saying that he was on his way to her. She sighed. She was early, so it was okay. She was in Piper's car, catching her breath and stuff when she heard Jasper's truck pulling in. She got really excited and really relaxed somehow, at the same time and jumped out of the car to meet him. He'd decorated his truck with congratulations, a banner of her smiling face and her title, degrees, and the date, and balloons floating, tied to the mirrors and long tinsels tied to the back. She gasped, "Jasper! What did you do?" She asked.

"It's to celebrate you!" He said, smiling, and reading her face to see if she was pleased with it or not. She smiled and gave him a kiss. She was pleased. Piper pulled out a metal little box and took a purple rolled cigarette out of it while Jasper said, "I pretty much lied about where I was all day, because I was trying to finish this and…" He opened the door of his truck… "This." He handed her a bouquet which was graduation teddy bears and flowers, with one Black Barbie doll with an afro in the middle, in her graduation outfit. "Had to sew her clothes myself because I couldn't find a doll with the color of your cap and gown! Sorry, I procrastinated…" She was crying and he gave her a hug and handed it to her. She hugged the bouquet to herself and then noticed that Piper was smoking on the other side of her car.

"Piper… You… You're smoking a cigarette?"

"Oh, don't worry. It's not one of those death sticks you get from the store. It's one of the smoke blends you can get from Jasper's mom," She said.

"My mom hates smoking," Jasper said.

"Not your mom, mom. The good one. The Black one," she said. _Adanna. _"It's basically just herbs and leaves. Rose, spearmint… something called hyssop and stuff. I don't know. I like them, though. This relaxes me."

Jasper whispered, "Is it okay for a 16 year old to smoke herbs?"

"I don't know, but I feel like I should protest, but don't have the right…"

"Piper, I don't think that a 16 year old should be smoking herbs," Jasper said.

"Noted," she told him and kept smoking. She'd gotten these from Henry. Adanna sent them to him whenever he called her to tell her about the situation and how he thought it might be his event from her card reading, and she'd asked for his address and began sending him gift baskets of some of her product every couple of weeks. She told him that something about him made her feel like he was often helping others, but had very little support. He definitely used some of it. He loved the burning things, whether it was one of those weird dolls or some fragrant plants, he always felt better afterwards. He set the smoke blend rolls aside and noticed when they went missing, but Piper had already claimed them and began using them by the time he asked her about them. He didn't raise a big deal. There were kids her age smoking cigarettes and weed. This was… at least… not exactly illegal? And, it seemed to help her out. "But, you better wait until you're 18 to try weed!" He said.

"What makes you think that I wanna try weed?" She wondered.

"I'm just telling you, IF you do…"

"I tried weed years ago. It has some kind of stupid adverse affect on me where it makes me feel anxiety. I'm not trying it again," she said and walked off. She dismissed a lot of their conversations by just walking off. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to pretend to be a parent, because he technically wasn't. Both of their parents were alive and they had asked her who she wanted to live with when they went into different homes. "I live with Henry, now."

But, they were bothered by this, because, as far as they knew, Henry lived in the junk shop. There was a little office in the back with a cot and a dresser and there was no way that they could both fit there. Like they had known where she was sleeping every night all of the nights that they rushed off and left her to be taken care of by a 13-19 year old boy, a 20-22 year old man who was barely at the house that he "lived in."

Now, she was always taking them as soon as one of the baskets came to Junk N Stuff, even though Henry reminded her several times that it was illegal to open his mail.

He was heading into town for Charlotte's graduation. His was the next day in Swellview, so after the ceremony and probably dinner, they were all going back that way so that they could make it to his and would be having a party in the Man Cave, afterwards. Charlotte's parents were going to throw her a little something, but she insisted that she needed to spend this time with her friends and reminded them that she was getting married in another year and they could throw her something then.

"You'd better at least come have breakfast or lunch or something with us. Nobody's playing with you, Little Girl," her mom said. She read that loud and clear.

"Jasper and I will be there after we wake up and get dressed," she promised.

Henry, Schwoz and Ray had come in the van and Charlotte realized that it was the first time in 4 years that either of them had visited there (Ray and Schwoz), so they wound up grabbing to go food and getting a little tour of the town, Jasper's frat house, which there was a HUGE graduation party happening at, Char's apartment, where she kept having to keep Ray from stealing her dogs, and their current workplaces.

Ray was very impressed with Jasper's life. He was a star athlete! Girls loved him! He had guys who followed his commands! He was internet famous and a local hero, of sorts? "Gee, Henry, maybe I should have had JASPER be my sidekick. He's clearly more successful," Ray said.

"Ummm… It's not a competition," Henry said, "And I also am successful, it's just different. I graduate tomorrow. I'm in the process of remodeling our entire store and making it a functional business with projected profits."

"So… You're not successful… YET," Ray pointed out.

Piper glared at him and reminded him, "You're not exactly successful yourself. The store is fake and your only skill is being indestructible, which was not only an accident, but says nothing about your merit. It's the only thing that you ever bring to the team. Meanwhile, Henry does the majority of the work, with absolutely no superpowers." Everyone was silent for a moment while Ray just scoffed, unable to find a retort. "Belay my last," she said and rolled her eyes, reaching for her cigarette holder. "So, has anybody been watching ROTC: In the Chiz? I could have sworn that one of the girls on there was Bianca, but they call everybody by last names, and I never learned hers…" She lit the thing and everyone awkwardly said that they didn't know or hadn't seen the show…

.

"Man… Piper's really kind of a buzzkill, right?" Ray asked Jasper and Charlotte while Henry and Piper were at her car, talking, before the drive back to Swellview.

Charlotte said, "She's been through a lot."

"She's been through what half of us have been through. You think that my mom was WITH my dad through this irresponsible scientist stuff? Jasper didn't meet his dad until last year or something! She's old enough to chill out."

"Or, she's much older than either of you were when your parents broke up, so it's affecting her harder," Charlotte said.

Jasper nodded his head and said, "She's doing her best, Ray. She feels like her mom left her when she left their dad. She probably is wondering if it's her fault or maybe she's depressed or something and there's no adult to enroll her into therapy. She just needs our support and you can be a little negative sometimes."

He scoffed again and said, "I'm the most positive person that either of you have ever met!"

"Such a lie," Charlotte said and Jasper had said, "That's incorrect, Man."

"Well, I didn't deserve to have her ruin the entire gathering at my expense, did I?"

"I mean.. She was harsh, but not necessarily wrong and you kinda were going a little rough on Henry there, Friend," Charlotte said.

"Hey, Guys, Piper's ready to drive back to Swellview, so I'm gonna ride with her," Henry called out, getting into the passenger's seat of Piper's SUV."

"What? No! We said that we were gonna circle back to the frat party as soon as the child of the group was gone!" Ray pouted.

"Dude.." Henry said.

"He's right," Piper told him. "You did make those plans."

"I did, but you just said that you're super tired and didn't feel up to driving," Henry reminded her.

"Yeah, and you're in the passenger's seat, so you might as well stay and party with your friends. You're a total loser. How many parties are you gonna get to go to, Bruh?" She laughed lightly and said, "If I have to kick you out of my car for you to have a good time, I will."

"Ugh. Well, drive safely you get tired, pull over at a rest stop or get a room or something and call me AS SOON AS you make it home."

"Jesus Haysues Christ. I know the routine, dude. We've been living together like a year. Go actually pretend that you know how to enjoy life or something," she said.

"I love you, Bye!"

"Have fun, Nerd," she said and pulled away.

"Guess I'm comin' to the party!" Henry said, running back to his friends.

.

Henry was exhausted by the time they got back into the van. He checked his phone and it was 3 am. Piper hadn't called or texted. He called her and she didn't answer. "Wow. Seriously. You're gonna leave a voicemail? I can assure you, I'm never checking it and I'm probably not gonna return your call. Text me like a normal person," her voicemail greeting said.

"Yeah, you were supposed to call me whenever you got home. You left before Midnight, so that should've been 30 minutes ago, unless you got a room or stopped at a rest stop. Either way, a text would've been nice, Dude. Now, I gotta wonder if you're okay until you call me back or don't and I have to wait until I'm home. I'm kinda pissed, Piper. Call me. Shit."

An hour into the drive home, he fell to sleep. Schwoz was driving and he and Ray were talking. Henry was asleep for about an hour longer, whenever his phone rang and it was Piper's ringtone. He jumped awake and answered it, "Piper! Goddamn it! You were supposed to call me whenever you got home!" He said.

"Hello, this is actually the police. We noticed that your number was the last and most frequent number in a phone that we located. Who does the phone I'm holding belong to?" The man on the other end of the phone asked. Henry's heart sank to his stomach and he felt a tear rolling down his face. Wherever this conversation was going, he knew that it couldn't be good.

"It's my little sister's phone. She drove out to see a family friend graduate and was heading back to Swellview when I last saw her at 11:30…"

"What are you talking about back there?" Ray wondered.

The policeman said, "Well, we found this phone at the site of an accident. One of the girls has been rushed to the hospital. The other will need someone to identify her, in Bordertown, where the wreck occurred."

Henry felt more tears falling now and he whispered, "I told her not to drive if she wasn't… Was… Was the… dead girl the one who was driving a charcoal SUV?"

"Sir, you should come to the Bordertown coroner and take a look…"

"No. NO. Look in the phone and call Siren of Jake Hart. Or Horrible Mom or Idiot Father… They… Let them be the ones to do this," he said.

"Okay. Thank you for your help. Try to enjoy the rest of your night."

"Yeah, I'm sure I will!" He hung up and covered his face.

"You okay kid?"

"Piper got into a wreck and I think she might be dead," Henry said.

"WHAT?" Schwoz and Ray both said.

Henry waved a hand and shook his head, "Just drive. No, pull over…" He got out of the van and Jasper's truck pulled over behind them. Charlotte was asleep, but Jasper got out of the truck and Henry told him as the other guys got out. "And he wouldn't just say that it wasn't the girl in the charcoal SUV that died. So, it's probably her, right? I mean… and if they found her phone at the site, what does that mean? Was it in the car? Was it on the scene because her body was tossed out? I never should have let her go by herself! She was tired. She was depressed. She was sleepy… I shouldn't have let her go…" Jasper collected him into a hug and calmed him down. By that time, Charlotte woke up and noticed that they were stopped and also that everybody else was outside of the vehicles. She got out and walked up, nervous about whatever she was seeing. Jasper repeated what happened to her and she sighed and put her hands on Henry's shoulders, "Hey… we'll find out, first… then, we'll do whatever we need to do to take care of you, okay?"

She went back to the truck to get her laptop, and she and Schwoz worked a little bit of magic to get into the hospital information in Bordertown. She took a deep breath and said, "Hen…" He turned to look at her, apprehensively. "It's not Piper. I'm sorry for that other family's loss, but Piper is the one that they brought to the hospital."

"Is she gonna be okay?" He wondered.

"She's still in surgery, but we can all just head there now. You ride with us." She took his hand and led him back to Jasper's truck. "Sit with him," she whispered to Jasper and kissed him on the cheek and got into the driver's seat. Schwoz and Ray got back into the van and they drove away again. Everybody felt a way about this. _I should have done more… _They all kept thinking.


	21. Piper at the Gates of Dawn

**Piper at the Gates of Dawn**

Whenever Henry came into the hospital, Jake was already there, pacing and looking quite terrible. "Dad!" Henry called and ran down the hall, his friends behind him. Jake looked startled when he saw him, but quickly rushed to meet his hug. "I'm so sorry, Dad. I should have stayed with her. This is all my fault. I let her go and it was late and she had a long way to drive, by herself. I'm so sorry…" Henry was trying not to cry again. His dad didn't need to see that. Poor guy was probably already in shambles without Henry failing him again.

Jake pulled back and looked at Henry, "What? No. No, it's not your fault at all. You're the one who HAS been there for her, for a really long time. I've been so… depressed and moody that I didn't even know that she was leaving town. I didn't even realize that she was at Charlotte's graduation until she posted pictures… I didn't even know that Charlotte was graduating! Don't you _dare_ apologize to me for you not being there. If you had been there, I might be waiting on news for BOTH of my children. You two are my only reasons to keep living and I still haven't been getting it right. You'd think by now that I would have figured out a way to prove what you both mean to me. All I've done is make both of you pull further away..." Henry cried and Jake collected him onto his shoulder, "Hey, hey… let's sit down, okay, Henry?" Henry nodded. His chest was tight, and his heart was beating too fast and kinda hurting. He had been in a state of an anxiety attack the entire drive here and hearing these words from his dad right now was just too much for his heart to take at the moment.

.

Usually, whenever he was in a vehicle with Jasper and Charlotte, the two of them were blasting 80's and 90's r&b, singing and dancing routines, and just being a source of joy that made the trip fly by. The two of them would know which parts to take, even though most of the songs were songs by groups. They sang a lot of duets, too. But, even if there was a singular artist, they would know which parts were theirs, even the ad lib portions at the ends of songs - ones that weren't including on lyrics websites..

Tonight, they had been silent, and whenever Henry turned on some music, to try to cope with their sober mood, everything made him either anxious or sad. He felt responsible. It was his fault that Piper hadn't cheered up and was driving alone and sad, and quite possibly a little high off of herbs, and ultimately that she got into a wrack and now his best friends were sad on what was supposed to be a very happy night for them. He apologized to Charlotte for ruining her graduation night, in between deep hard breaths. Charlotte found a stream of breathing exercises and told him to try to follow the directions. He was able to get control of his breathing, but not his heart rate. She told him that none of this was his fault. He nodded, but disagreed silently.

At the hospital, Henry rested his head on his father's shoulder and fell asleep, eventually, wrapped in the man's arms. Charlotte was exhausted, but there was no way that she could sleep - just like when she knew that Henry was on a dangerous mission. She just… couldn't rest whenever someone she cared about was going through something. Piper being in surgery after a serious car accident definitely qualified. Jasper's eyes were barely open, so she offered, "You wanna take a nap, like Henry? I promise to wake you up whenever the doctor comes to us."

"I do, but… I know you'll be awake and distressed and I don't wanna leave you alone like that," he said. She glanced at Ray and Jake, sitting next to each other, Henry resting on Jake's shoulder, as peacefully as he could, considering, and Schwoz toppled forward and snoring, with Ray's elbow on him like an arm rest. Jake and Ray were both awake and merely staring forward, probably trying to play it cool, even though she was sure that at least one of them was definitely worried and the other, if not, had to at least be bothered that he was here.

"Ray and Mr. Hart are both awake. I'm sure that they'll keep me company, if I start to feel lonely. I'm most likely to just be in my own mind anyway." Jasper reluctantly nodded and got on the floor, to lean on her and fall to sleep on her thighs. Charlotte looked over at Ray and asked, "Hey, Ray… You don't seem to have anybody sleeping on you. Can you grab me a coffee?"

Ray looked irritated, but got up and stretched. "You want something, Henry's dad?" He asked. Jake blinked and looked at Ray for the first time since they arrived.

"Umm.. Yes. I would like a coffee too."

"He takes it with a lot of sugar and a lot of cream… like, make it look like milk," Charlotte said.

"Then why even get him coffee? Why not just drink milk?" Ray scoffed.

"I'll take milk," Jake said. "I don't want to be a bother."

Ray rolled his eyes, but he felt bad for the guy. "I'll get you your weak man's coffee, Dude." He left and returned with three cups, one tucked in his arm and the others in his hands. "Black with an extra shot and 3 sugars," he said handing to Charlotte. She gratefully accepted it with the hand that wasn't strumming Jasper's hair. "Extra strong, black with no ruination for me, a real man," he said and sat next to Jake again, "And your milkmaid coffee."

"Could you go easy on him? His daughter is in surgery?" Charlotte reminded Ray.

Ray sighed. "His daughter who chose to live with Henry and I instead of one of her parents, after the divorce…" Ray mumbled.

"Thank you," Jake said, accepting the coffee, "For all of that. I've always appreciated the time that you've taken with my kids. I wasn't always able to be there for them…" Jake held the coffee in both hands, allowing it to cool for a while. "After my wife left, I just fell apart. I let Piper slip right through my fingers. We were never close, but after that, it was like I was dead to her. And now, she's… here…" His eyes glossed over and Ray reached out and wrapped and arm around him to pat his shoulder, but wound up just strumming Henry's head. Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows. Weird show of empathy from Ray, but… she simply sipped her coffee. It was still too hot and she could already tell that her tongue was gonna be fuzzy for a while, now. Great.

"Hey, Henry's dad… Henry loves you very much. We spent a lot of time together, but when it came to his family needing him, I have always known that was his priority."

Jake scoffed, "Probably because too often, he had to be the man of the house. I never handled my responsibilities properly. That was one of the reasons that their mother finally left. She wanted to wait until Piper had graduated, but apparently, I became more and more unbearable and she didn't want to be around me anymore, and neither did Piper."

"To be fair, she didn't want to be around either of you, not even your hot wife."

"Hot EX wife," Jake corrected. "It's over. Divorce finalized. Assets divided. She's with someone else."

"Well, of course she is, I mean… Look at her!" Ray said, then reeled himself in. "But, your life doesn't have to end just because you lost what was probably gonna be the hottest woman you've ever dated in your life."

Jake furrowed his eyebrows and said, "I've dated hotter."

Ray let out a hearty laugh and Henry and Schwoz both stirred. "Sorry," he whispered.

Jake pulled out his phone and said, "This was my high school sweetheart. I broke up with her to ask Siren out." Ray's eyes grew wide. "This is her last week when we had a class reunion."

"WOW! HOW? How does a man like you get women like this?" Ray wondered.

"Well, I have an entire process. I start out by offering them a free date. They don't have to decide anything. They don't have to pay for anything. They only need to show up, get whatever they want and be themselves. I spend the date complimenting them and listening to whatever they want to talk about. I let them control the tone and the mood of where things are headed and treat them very kindly, the entire time."

Ray winced. "That sounds like a lot of hard work," he shook his head and drank his coffee.

"It is, if they aren't worth it. But, look again," He showed Ray the photos on his phone.

"Yeah… She's hotter than your hot ex wife."

"Right?"

"So… That's it, that's your whole process? Pay for their dates and fake being nice?"

"I don't have to fake being nice… But, that's just how you hook them. When they get really interested in you, that's when you reel 'em in with affection and honesty. Once they trust you and give you access to them intimately… Then you just make sure you love them down like nobody ever has before. That's honestly the catch. A woman will put up with almost anything if you know how to make her body happy."

"Now, we're talking. Why not just skip straight to THAT part, if that's the catch?"

"You have to do the rest to show them that they can have it all."

"Interesting…" Ray said, nodding his head, thoughtfully. Jake was finally ready to try his coffee. Charlotte had been staring at the two of them this entire time, unable to believe that THIS was the conversation that they decided to have.

.

Charlotte was the only one awake whenever the doctor finally approached them. Schwoz was still bent over, Ray was propped up with his head back against the wall and his mouth wide open. Mr. Hart managed to be laying on his shoulder, with Henry still on his shoulder. She gently moved from beneath Jasper and crossed to wake up the Hart men. "Henry, Mr. Hart…" She said gently and shook them a little bit.

Henry awoke with a start and a "Piper!"  
"Yeah… Her doctor's here…" Charlotte said. As Henry and Jake stirred to get up, the others awoke as well.

Ray gave Schwoz a little elbow, but neither of them stood up. The doctor talked to Jake and Henry, with Charlotte standing close behind and Jasper came up behind her, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to himself. Piper was awake and ready to see guests. "She asked for Henry, Charlotte, and Jasper," the doctor concluded, after telling them that everything was fine, she was stable, and should recover nicely.

"We'll update you right away, Dad," Henry said, cupped his father's face, then rushed off with the doctor. Charlotte gave Jake a sad smile and rushed off too, with Jasper in step with her.

Jake sat next to Ray again and they gave each other a little smile. "I'm sure she wants to see you. Probably just wants to talk to Henry first," Ray offered.

"She also asked for the other kids."

"Well… they're as much her family as Henry is at this point. Look, Henry's Dad, your daughter is a teenage girl. 16 now, right? I declared my freedom at that age. Sent my dad packing. At least she still speaks to you."

"She hasn't answered my call or responded to my texts in months, Dude."

Ray sighed, irritated that he'd taken the time to try to cheer this gloomy lump up and this was the thanks he got. "Well, she still listens to and reads your messages and she hasn't blocked you or changed her contact info. TRUST ME, she has the wherewithal to vanish from your life completely if she wanted to."

Jake looked confused. "From working in a junk shop?"

"We also have stuff!" Ray said and gave Jake a pat on the back. "Just… be happy that she's alright and know that means that you still have a chance to be a better Henry's Sister's Dad than you were a Henry's Dad."

Jake smiled, but his eyes were confused. "Do… you not know my name after all of these years?" He asked.

Ray paled a little and let out an awkward laugh. "Sure I do. It… is…" he began texting.

"Are you asking someone?"

"Nope. I just got a message in and gotta answer it right away. Got a little sidetracked but your name is definitely one that I know. And that name is…"

"It's Jake."

"Jake! That's exactly what I was about to say, because I definitely knew that." _He was actually about to say Party Buddy Hart, because that was what Jake had on his social media. _"And of course I'm.."

"Henry's Boss," Jake said, with a teasing smile. Ray's nostrils flared. "Aka, Ray Manchester. Record Winning Most Handsome Man in Swellview."

Now, Ray smiled, "Yes. Yes, I am."

"Swellview doesn't have very many handsome men," Jake mused. Ray frowned. "Not saying you don't deserve it!"

"Just, zip it, Jack."

"Jake."

"Whatever." Ray folded his arms and fought off a grin. He wasn't sure why Henry's Dad was making him want to smile, anyway!

.

Piper sat up when Henry and the others entered. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Henry said and rushed to try to hug her.

"Wait!" Charlotte called out. Henry froze.

"Just gimme dap," Piper said, with a weak smile and offered a fist bump.

"Surgery," Charlotte reminded Henry.

He nodded, "Surgery at 16… because I wanted to go drink with a bunch of college dudes that I don't even know." He shook his head.

"That had nothing to do with this," Piper said, shaking her head. "If you'd come along, that truck would've smashed right into you. They hit me from that side. It was crazy! They flew out of their car. There was glass everywhere. I would've checked on them, but I got pinned in."

"So.. you were like aware of everything?" Charlotte asked, horrified.

"Not at first. I didn't notice them coming until the lights were coming right at me. I didn't even have time to try to swerve. I just… sat there like an idiot and took the hit." She shook her head, tears in her eyes. "Car went spinning and finally landed against the railing. I couldn't get out and I couldn't reach my phone, and I was in pain. The first thing I thought was… they're all gonna be so upset that this happened." She choked back tears, blinked them away and shook her head, "But, I'm fine now! So.. nobody has to be upset."

Henry folded his arms. He definitely WAS upset. "The doctor said that you had internal bleeding." Internal bleeding was always bad.

"Yeah, they fixed it." She shrugged. She knew she wasn't exactly "fine," but she knew that she would be and that Henry was a worrier, especially when it came down to her. "How's that other car?"

"She didn't make it. They had me thinking you were dead!" Henry said.

"Yikes. How long did you think that?" She asked, sadly.

"Not too long. Char hacked into the emergency room records."

"With her smart ass," Piper said, settled back down. Sitting up was uncomfortable.

"So… what happened?" Jasper wondered. "Did your calm down smokes make you drowsy? Were you tired and dozing off? Did the other car come out of nowhere? What… happened?"

Charlotte was about to say something, but Piper spoke too quickly, "I was stupid. I wasn't paying attention. I went into my own head. I was thinking about how I used to hate having my family around for stuff, but at my sweet 16, all I wanted was for us all to be able to be in the same place. Instead, it was a room full of strangers, and even though they showed up… my parents were the most unfamiliar people there. Who are they, now? How is Henry and his friends the only family that I have left?... And while I was thinking about that stupid stuff, she came out of nowhere. I barely snapped out of it before she smashed into me." She sighed. "So.. I'm the one who needs to say I'm sorry. I should have been focused on the road and my surroundings, not having some late night pity party."

Henry gently collected her into a side hug and kissed her on her hair.

Charlotte finally said, "She was drunk. I found out that she had 3 times the legal amount to drive in her system. Her social media had her out at graduation parties all night. She was graduating from Bordertown High and got carried away. It happens a lot around this time of year and it's not your fault. Even if you were thinking about something else, our brains are made to think about stuff while doing other stuff and I'm sure you've driven a hundred times with stuff on your mind. I'm just glad that you're okay! You have nothing to be sorry about."

Piper looked at Jasper, "You alright, Dude?" She just wanted the focus off of her and this subject, and Jasper looked unwell.

He but his lip, came closer to the bed and leaned against it. "Apparently, when I was a few months old, my dad was getting ready to go somewhere, drunk. He picked me up out of my crib, dressed me, because I was gonna go with him, but then he left me in the living room by myself, on the floor, forgot that I wasn't in the car, and he got into a wreck…"

"What?" Henry and Piper asked. Charlotte just blinked and avoided the urge to touch him. That might not necessarily be comforting right now.

Jasper laughed, uncomfortably, "He backed over the fire hydrant, then panicked and drove through the side of the house to get away from the water. He and my mom don't agree on much, but both say it was a miracle that the car didn't hit me. The rubble and the vehicle just missed me. I'm oblivious, crawling around and shit. My mom freaks out, wondering how I even got out of my crib and stuff, then she sees who it is that drove through the house. He's crying and apologizing to me and to her and promising that he could repair the house… but… he couldn't repair them. So.. I… guess that's why I don't drink. Why when I turned 21, it wasn't some intoxicated rager for me, and why for the past year or so, hearing about a car wreck makes me kind of anxious, kind of exhausted." He laughed and offered Piper a hand, "We're our own little club now. We made it out."

Piper stared at his hand with her lips quivering. Charlotte rubbed her arms. She was cold. Piper cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "I thought that I was doing a pretty good job at keeping it together for this bunch, but that was one of the most depressing things that I've ever fucking heard." She couldn't help but to cry. "At least your dad wanted to be there. Where the hell are my parents?"

"Dad's here and mom's rushing in from out of town."

"Dad is here? Why didn't he come in to see me?"

"Doc says you asked for the three of us."

"I… guess I wasn't really thinking that he'd be here. Dad is here?"

Charlotte offered, "I'll go get him." Piper cried even harder and leaned on Henry now. Jasper followed Charlotte out, figuring that they could use the family time.

"I should've told you that first," Jasper said, apologetically.

"No. You weren't ready and this was a fitting time, around trusted loved ones and reaching out to Piper. She was trying really hard not to let any of us in. You did good…" She told Jake, "Piper wants to see you. She would've asked for you too, but she didn't know that you'd be here."

Jake's face lit up. Ray smiled at him and said, "See there?"

Jake gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, overjoyed. Ray's eyes went wide, as did Jasper's. Charlotte just pursed her lips. "Thank you, Ray. You helped me get through this night."

"Go see Henry's sister, Jack."

"Jake."

"Yeah, yeah."

Jake rushed to Piper's room and Ray watched him leave. He knew his name now, but he couldn't let him think he was that important.

Jasper asked Charlotte, "This may sound weird, but do you think…"

"That Ray and Henry's Dad were flirting? Yes."

Ray scoffed, "We were not!"

"I've been sitting across from you for hours!" Charlotte said.

"I was just being nice to that adorkable man. Dorkable. Dork.. face… Jack dude."

"I was awake the entire time!" Charlotte said.

Jasper asked, "When are you ever nice to someone you aren't flirting with?"

Ray stammered over his words while Charlotte said, "Good point, F Sized." Jasper smiled proudly.

Ray finally said, "He's a dude! I don't flirt with dudes!"

"You did tonight," Charlotte reminded him.

"You're the only alleged witness to that, Charlotte!" Ray said, not admitting a thing.

"I saw only 2 minutes of it and I believe her," Jasper said.

"You always take her side! She's your fiancee… you know what, I'm gonna go get myself another coffee and none for either of you!" He got up and stormed off.

"We'll have to ease him into the realization that he's attracted to at least one man," Charlotte said. Siren came rushing in and she offered, "I'll show her where they are."

"I'm coming with. C'mon. What was I gonna do, watch Schwoz sleeping?"

.

After the Harts were settled in Piper's room and had a chance to sort to some things as a family, Henry came out and thanked everybody for coming along.

"You kidding? She's our Piper too," Ray said. "And we should be able to see her before we go. I've been stuck listening to your dad mope all night."

"Loving it," Charlotte said.

"Being nice to him in case she died!" Ray corrected.

"Comforting each other," Charlotte revised.

"ANYRAY! I'm gonna stop in and check her out before we hit the road."

"Check HER out?" Charlotte asked.

"You know what, Charlotte!" Ray snapped, but stormed away, towards Piper's room.

"Ummm… what did I miss?" Henry wondered.

"Ray's got a crush on your dad," Charlotte replied.

"Is no parent safe from his lusts?" Henry asked, but he didn't really seem upset as the trio walked towards the room.

"I'm actually gonna stay with them, but I'll definitely see you before the graduation ceremony."

"Yeah," Charlotte said. She and Jasper came to tell everyone that they'd see them later. They needed to get some rest. Charlotte noticed Ray getting Jake's number on his way out, "in case you wanna check in with me how she's doing on those nights she's not answering…" _Mmmhmm…_ she thought.

Ray and Schwoz met her and Jasper at the door and Ray called out, "Later, Pippen!"

"You know that isn't my name," Piper said.

"If you say so," Ray said. He, Schwoz, Jasper and Charlotte left the hospital at the same time. Everybody was exhausted except for Schwoz, who had slept peacefully to "the soothing sounds of medical science," aka Hospital sounds… stuff that keeps normal people from being able to sleep.

.

Whenever they got to the car, Jasper said, "You've had the least amount of sleep, so I'm driving. I know how tired you are after you've worried all night."

"Technically morning, but thank you, Babe." She gave him a hug, then just collapsed onto him. He held her tightly, closely, protectively and caressed her back. She sniffled and he kissed her hair. "I'm just now feeling it," she admitted.

"That's how you are," he said with a smile.

Her body felt like it was quaking with all of the worry, fear, stress, sadness, and anticipation she had been suppressing the entire morning. "There's never enough time to really feel things in the moment. There's always work to be done." This time, it was trying to figure out some information about the accident. Was there a vehicle malfunction? Was the dead girl reckless? Charlotte just needed to know that her younger friend hadn't driven in the path of a vehicle and gave up. She needed to know that it was indeed an accident. She backed away slightly, still held tightly and looked at Jasper. "But, you're always here whenever I remember to feel again. "

"Always will be," he promised with a half smile and pressed his forehead to hers.

She gave him a kiss that lasted longer than she intended. It wasn't until they heard a horn honking and Schwoz tease, "Get a room," that they stopped.

Jasper stared at her for a while, like he had something to say. "What are you thinking about?" She wondered.

He blinked, sighed and admitted, "The surprise of Piper whenever she realized that their dad was there… it was heartbreaking. You and I… no matter whatever happens between us, the kids have to always know that we're gonna be there, yeah?"

"Definitely."

"Even if I drive a car through part of the house…"

"You'd better not."

"Like… not drunk, but what if I get lost in my own mind or something, like Piper did?"

"The odds of that seem extremely low. It's not a common accident."

"But…"

"No matter what, Jasper."

"I never want them to have to go through us not being there. It's so scary and hurtful and lonely. All those people at Piper's party and her parents were strangers? That's gonna keep me awake at night."

"It'll never happen to us."

"Everybody thinks that. Everybody says that."

"When have I ever lied?" Charlotte asked. He thought for a moment, then let out a sigh of relief. Never. She never lied to him. Maybe not told him everything, at times… but she would never commit if she wasn't positive. He was okay now. He'd be alright.


	22. Mr and Mrs Jasper Dunlop

**Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Dunlop**

Piper was bummed that she would have to miss Henry's college graduation, but she made sure to threaten to beat him senseless as soon as she recovered if he didn't proceed with his plans for the evening. He hadn't planned much. Graduation ceremony, dinner with the family, and chillaxing with Charlotte and Jasper. It was good to have Jake and Siren in a room together without it being terrible. They both felt so bad about Piper that they forgot their issues for a while and just got along and supported her. In the break up, both had sort of put her in the middle and made her feel like she had to choose. She'd chosen Henry, because he was the only person that she felt could relate. Now, she was in the hospital, fixing her makeup to address her followers, and wishing she could be at her brother's graduation.

Henry was fine. With Piper assuring him that his presence could have in no way helped her outcome, he could finally relax. He could just enjoy the moment… sort of. It was weird to not have her there. They'd spent a lot of time together since she found out that he was Kid Danger and they spent even more time together since their parents broke up. She was supposed to be here. Charlotte agreed to make sure that she captured every possible moment of Henry's special evening, so it could be like Piper was there the whole time.

Afterwards, he, Jasper and Charlotte went to hang out at the hospital with Piper. She was stuck in there for about 3 days and whenever she was released, she had Henry bring her to Jake's place. She was going to need some nursing back to full recovery and she didn't want to get in Henry's way of Kid Danger things.

Henry, instead was immediately throwing himself into revamping the store. Nate had been working on things for over a year and they were ready to reopen the place, remodeled. Some of the former junk and stuff things were on the upper floor and arranged to look more like a gift and antique shop than junk. Anything that looked too "junk-like," Piper and Henry had cleared out during a garage sale in front of the store. Everything else, she took charge of organizing on that floor and they plastered the old Junk N' Stuff sign on the back wall, sort of like a novelty, honestly for their own nostalgia. Because, outside of the place was a new sign, with lettering that Piper had picked and a name that they had decided on together, "Heart Eyes" with a heart symbol for the "E," so technically, "Hart Eyes," and the tagline, "You'll see something you'll love here."

Entering the store, it was like a little department store in that it had various stations - a fabrics and frames, jewelry and accessories, juice and smoothie bar and the florist center. They were near the walls, the florist being to the right, whenever you first came in, bar to the left and the others towards the back. The middle of the store was a boutique of formals and gifts.

"This is actually really great, right?" Henry asked Piper. He knew that she would always be honest.

"Yeah. It's amazing Henry. I'm super proud of you." She clapped him on the shoulder and they both smiled. They were gonna be alright. They were gonna do well. He was sure of it. The worst had to be over… They turned towards the door hearing some laughter, ready to greet a guest. It was just Jake and Ray. Piper sighed and rolled her eyes. She and her dad were working on their relationship, but this new friendship with Ray of his was weird and uncomfortable for her.

"Yo!" Henry cheered. "If it isn't my two dads…" He joked. Both men began to laugh very vigorously. More than he knew that joke was worth, so he asked, "What am I missing?"

"What? That wasn't in reference to the comedy series with Paul Reiser?" Ray asked. "Because, if it wasn't, I don't get it."

"Of course it was!" Jake said. "Oooh, I wonder if that show is streaming on anything."

"Probably not. It was too good. But you know… Piper can probably pirate it for us."

"You… would ASK my daughter to break the law?" Jake asked, folding his arms.

"No. I'd just tell her to do it and she'll likely jump right in, because it's fun for her to break the law. She loves that kinda stuff."

Jake laughed, "You're right."

"Where are you two going?" Henry asked, knowing that Ray wasn't going to share the Man Cave with Jake!

"I'm getting my bag. Jake and I are having a sleepover at his house, if that's okay?"

Henry folded his arms and said, "Well, you two better not stay up all night. Both of you have work in the morning. Also, I just checked every streaming service and no, My Two Dads is not on anything."

Ray shook his head, "Figures." He headed towards the back and screamed, "PIPER!" Jake waited with Henry and whenever Ray came back, with his bag, they left, shoulder to shoulder, talking about how funny My Two Dads used to be. Henry would have thought that was a made up thing, but he searched and it did come up. Totally real late 80s, early 90s show… though not about what he'd thought…

He was thinking more along the lines of how he and Jasper used to say that they were gonna grow old together. If they were gonna have a kid, they'd get Charlotte to be a surrogate and Jasper would be a house dad while Henry supported the family on a hero's salary. It was a perfect plan. At the end of high school senior year, that plan was picked apart. At the end of college, that plan was dust blowing in the wind. And a year later, that plan was replaced completely with the new and improved plan.

.

_**Welcome to the Wedding of Charlotte Ambrosia Page and Jasper TBD Dunlop...**_

Two years of planning made the wedding come together perfectly. While Jasper did have an additional year of college to complete in that duration, he landed a job at the firm where he was an intern, sooner than he expected and had been working there for half a year by the time of the wedding. And the wedding? Everything Jasper could have dreamed up and more! Henry was obviously amazing at this. Charlotte had gotten everyone that she knew who had a skill or product to offer involved. Piper was there, at her happiest and healthiest since the wreck.

Henry had told her, "Just worry about your little dress," whenever she was asking about what kind of extravagant plans he would be entertaining for Jasper. That just made her worry more, when she really had nothing to worry about.

The day of the wedding, she realized that the moms, Henry and Piper were on every little detail. They had Jasper's frat bros and pledges to assist or serve, with the exception of the three that were actually a part of his wedding party. He would have had more, but Charlotte only had three friends, INCLUDING him, so even having three made her side unleveled. Fortunately, Schwoz was willing to stand in as a body to make things more symmetrical. He, Henry and Piper to Jasper's Coogie, Snek and Fisher, with Henry handling Lady and Tramp, who kept the rings on their collars for safe keeping.

Jasper and Charlotte had decided that the last entry in each of their affirmation journals for each other would be their wedding vows. Whenever they would finish reciting them, they'd finally give those to each other. They would also show each other their new affirmation journals during the gift exchange.

_**Processional**_

The wedding party all had on pastel yellow or orange with bright red, orange and yellow accessories. Jasper had a suit with a red floral jacket and red pants with gold accents. Technically, it was a women's suit, but it was what he wanted, so they got it tailored to him and Charlotte had to admit that he not only pulled it off, but it was a LEWK. It was doing it for her. She was able to see him long before he could see her, and not because of bad luck or any other such nonsense. Because of good old fashioned, she was extremely busy trying to finish up everything at work before her small break, she had to squeeze in a party that was forced upon her, and the day of the actual wedding, her mother and Aunt Cohort insisted on keeping her apart from everybody, because her entrance had to be the most memorable part of the ceremony. Fucking Bolton women… Well… Cohort… was by marriage, but STILL.

Luckily, Piper was posting in her stories and Charlotte's phone hadn't been taken away. She was SO GLAD whenever it was time for her mom and aunt to go have a seat. Then, whenever Henry came to retrieve her, give her the bouquet that he didn't trust ANYONE touching until it was go time and let her pet her doggies before her dad had to walk her down the aisle.

_**Bride's Entrance**_

Henry went in first with the dogs in their miniature outfits that were made to look like a bride and groom, though they didn't quite match Jasper and Charlotte. Tramp's suit was red and she had on a floral crown, while Lady had on a white dress, nothing like Char's and a veil. She had these little leg cuffs and people went crazy to see the doggos look so adorable, but it was time to stand for the bride and Jasper was excited, nervous, anxious, and eager, all at once.

His pledges opened the doors and on Mr. Page's arm was Charlotte, tiny and glowing - not wearing heels, because she didn't want to possibly fall today and not wearing her usual thick soles, because she simply didn't have any that were wedding appropriate. "Oh my God," Jasper said, along with a chorus of his frat bros. The dress that Charlotte had made was short in the front, long in the back, frilly kinda like a tutu at the bottom, but cascading behind her and had iridescent highlights in it that made it kind of twinkle and crystals on it that made it kind of sparkle. She was SUCH a sight, he didn't even know what to do but try not to cry at this vision.

She wore a luminous highlighter and a light shimmer on her skin, which was moisturized and radiant. Adanna made her jewelry of jasper, mock rubies, crystals and gold. And the bridal frohawk that she wore was adorned with sparkly gems and small flowers on the knotted twists. As she got closer, he could see that she put a heart in rhinestones around her "Yes" tattoo, and his heart could hardly handle any of this. The frat brothers began a chorus of big dog barking - that always put his head back in the game, but he figured that today was probably not a good day to go that route. He was appeased with Little Dog joined in with her tiny barking, and he was able to compose himself again.

Whenever Mr. Page passed her hands over to Jasper's, he was all choked up, they both were. Charlotte was actually, surprisingly calm, considering that her heart was beating and her hands were sweating and she couldn't tear her eyes away from this man in front of her that she NEVER EVER thought she would EVER be standing here with, feeling this way… Just 6 years ago, she wouldn't have even kissed him on the cheek! "You look amazing," he managed to say. She couldn't speak. He looked… UNF. She just couldn't. She tried to catch her breath, but he moved so close that she thought he might kiss her. Instead he smiled, giddy, and brushed his nose against hers. He kept his face very near her face and neck and probably was going to wind up sore from trying to be so close to her. He kept whispering things like, "I can't believe this is really happening," and "I love you so much."

_**Words from the Parents...**_

Instead of "readings," they'd asked their parents for tiny speeches of advice. There were no poems or lyrics that were going to sum up what they felt. Better to bring this new adventure in with the most important people giving them the most sacred advice on their special day.

Mr. Page said, "From the time Charlotte was a little girl, she always knew what she wanted and she never had trouble working hard to get it. So much, that by the time she was 6, I pretty much knew I could trust that she meant whatever she would say. So, whenever she said that you two were together, I honestly didn't think twice about it. I've always wondered, will she make the right choice in a man, or a woman, if that would have been where she would have gone. I always thought if she came home one day with someone that I didn't understand being for her, would I be able to accept it. Jasper… We've known you for years and I didn't think you and my daughter were right for each other, but I knew her and I trusted her, so whenever I saw that it lasted and that it would come to this, I expected that. Because Charlotte might make mistakes, but she's never made any that I've seen. So, you just better trust her. Trust her to do what she wants and needs to do for herself and trust in whatever she vows to do for you. She always knows exactly what she means. Always have." Henry patted an emotional Jasper on the back.

Recognition, advice, guidance from men was always a soft spot for him, having not had his dad around most of his life, and coming from his soon to be father-in-law, on a day already crammed with emotions, he just had to let a few happy tears fall.

Mrs. Page said, "To add to that, make sure that she can trust you! One time when she was like 9 ot 10, my brother played what he felt like was a little prank on her. I don't even remember what it was…" Charlotte almost interrupted to explain the prank, but didn't want to derail her own wedding. "And whatever Coco did, Charlotte didn't forgive him for YEARS and she still hasn't forgotten. Look at her face." They all laughed. "She's slow to forgive and never forgets, so you need to be sure that you remain honest and trustworthy, Jasper. And Charlotte, you know I've been giving you bits and pieces all throughout this engagement, to the point that I don't have much more to say but to just say this in summation: Be soft with him. He's sensitive and you can be hard and cold sometimes. It won't make you weak to be soft with him." Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows. _I AM soft with him. Him and him alone. _Jasper squeezed her hand and pressed his cheek against her bridal frohawk. His mother simply offered congratulations and said, "Even I've learned a lot about her from you, so I can't give advice, but I freely give my blessing and hope that she continues to love you as much as she's shown me that she has."

Jasper was crying and wondering again why they didn't have this happen at the reception, instead of as part of the wedding, but Henry had explained to him before - the WEDDING is supposed to be an emotional event. The reception is supposed to be a party with photo ops. Besides, only person qualified to give a speech at you two's reception is ME."

Jack Leigh took the microphone from Pansy… not aggressively or anything, just eagerly. She stood, somewhat uncomfortably next to him as he announced, "Some of you probably don't know me, but I am Jasper's bio-dad. We didn't really have a long history together, but what interactions we did have were definitely among the most significant ones in my life. I wasn't the kind of father that Jasper needed and wasn't the kind of husband his mom needed. So, my advice today would be - always put this relationship first. When you're married, when you've decided in your heart that this is the one, nothing should be more important to you than your wife and your family. Whenever we met, I was SO PROUD that you had done so well. I was always worried that I would've screwed you up so bad that you'd hate me and not even believe in love, or worst - that you'd turn out like me. You managed to be a good kid, find a great woman and be smart enough to learn to love her and know her _before _making a huge decision. And you two just… work. So, my advice is to keep trusting and believing in yourself. You'll do right by her and by this marriage. Because, whatever is inside of you has made you that kind of man."

Henry preemptively handed Jasper a cloth handkerchief, which he sobbed into, with Charlotte rubbing his belly, affectionately and soothing him with her voice. It wasn't until Uncle Roscoe yelled out, "Let it out, Lil' Nephew! Big Dogs cry too!" And everyone, including Jasper started laughing. Things became a little less tense and the rest of the ceremony carried on beautifully. _Uncle Rox was the man! _Jasper reminded himself.

_**Reciting of Vows**_

Since Henry had the dogs, Piper held on to Charlotte's affirmation journal for her and Fisher has Jasper's. Henry had decided that it was better for them to stand behind and a little off to the side and extend their arms forward with the books, as to not get in between the officiant and the couple, and not to block too much the couple from the guests, but also to not have Charlotte and Jasper release hands to hold books. Just as well, he encouraged them to try to memorize the vows, but knew that Charlotte, while she might be able to memorize it all word for word, would feel more comfortable with having them there. But, she had already talked to both of them and instead of them awkwardly holding them for them to be read, both Piper and Fisher simply held the books and stood beside them, with them open. If they had a pause or something, they could just _whisper _the next line. Henry was salty that he hadn't thought of that, but Charlotte WAS the brains of that operation.

Jasper spoke, "Charlotte, whenever I first fell in love with you, I knew that I wasn't what you would have looked for in a man, but I was up to that challenge, because I knew that you were worth more than any person that I would ever know or meet in my life. And I'm still up to that challenge, as you continue to evolve and grow into a greater person, I will continue to push myself to be worthy of being at your side. I will be strong for you, even though I know that you're strong enough. I will be brave for you, even though I know that you're brave enough. I will be every definition of a man that you could ever possibly dream of and if I can't, I'll determine that I just have to work harder. You'll never be alone, as long as I'm alive and you'll never be without as long as I have breath in me. I don't care what it takes. I've been determined to be what you want, need, and love, and I will never stop being and doing that, as long as I live and as long as we're together."

Charlotte's face twisted in emotion and Piper quickly tucked the journal and clapped her hands twice. Schwoz wiped at Charlotte's eye corners to catch the tears in the tear cloth, Henry fanned her to keep her from being too warm and Adanna passed a refresher rose water spray spritz to Piper, which she sprayed a couple of times on Charlotte's face as Henry fanned, and Schwoz blotted. Charlotte nodded once and the three whispered, "Break!" and resumed their positions. The guests laughed a little at the proficiency and dedication, but Charlotte took a deep breath and motivated herself, "You've got this, Charlotte. You're good."

"You're the best," Jasper corrected her, with a teary smile.

She smiled at him and nodded her head. "Jasper. Before us, I knew what I wanted and who I wanted to be - just like my dad said earlier -"

"Good improv," Piper whispered and Charlotte just winked and continued.

"But, whenever you made your presence known in my life, I had to rethink my entire future. I wouldn't just do that for some guy. I would only do that for a man that I knew that I could trust, love, and respect for the rest of my life. Neither of us is perfect, but we still manage to make it work out perfectly, and surprisingly and refreshingly, that's never all on me. I've known a lot of people to get married and lose themselves in each other, or even become an unmarried couple and begin to live their lives revolving around the other person and a lot of times neglecting themselves and I was worried and scared that it might happen to me. But, you've remained my best friend and you've become my life partner. You motivate me to be more of myself and you inspire me to be a higher me… That's so goofy, but it's true. I just want to be able to reciprocate that determination and dedication that you show. Not to lose myself in you, but to continue to find myself, with you and for you to continue to find yourself with me, and you are the only person that I could ever imagine it working so perfectly with. The only person I would be willing to call myself "Mrs." for. From this day on, that's who I am."

Jasper ugly cried and Fisher asked Piper, "Can we get one of those ummm…?" Piper clapped her hands twice and they fixed Jasper right up, too. She smiled at Fisher as they three said, "Break!"

_**Gift Presentation and Ring Exchange**_

Charlotte and Jasper gave each other their affirmation journals, which they passed back to Piper and Fisher, who put them away where they had kept the previous ones, before the vows recitals. Henry took that time to collect the rings from the dogs' collars and pass them to Piper and Fisher, as he made a little announcement for the guests, "I know that this ceremony hasn't been exactly what you've come to expect in a wedding…"

Roscoe, who was sitting by Ray and Cohort cheered, "It's the best wedding I have ever seen!" He and Jasper pointed at each other with huge smiles and Ray rolled his eyes.

"This guy is the worst, right?" He asked Cohort.

"This is my husband," she said, annoyed.

Ray chuckled and added, "The worst at being a bad guest, am I right?"

Jake put a hand on Ray's leg and said, "Just… Shhh. Our Henry's speaking!"

Henry continued, "And now, the bride would like to make a small gift presentation before the rings exchange." Jasper furrowed his eyebrows in surprise. He thought that HE was the one who knew most about this ceremony, but apparently Henry and Charlotte had managed to keep something from him… New Henry and another frat boy brought in a fancy looking chest adorned in red and gold, and Henry opened it.

Charlotte said, "This is more like an extension of my vows, so you don't feel a way about not getting me anything. I just wanted to make today extra special for you and take this time that I knew that I would have to declare in front of all of our loved ones stuff that they might not ever really get a chance to hear or see me profess again." Jasper placed both hands over his heart and smiled. Charlotte was great at gift giving, whenever she made the time and took the effort to gift people.

"First, there's this," she pulled out a trophy that looked enough like Jasper hitting a flex pose, but golden and he gasped in excitement. "This is because you're very competitive, sometimes, even when there is no competition for you! And for this, there is none…"

She handed it to him and he looked at it and practically screamed, "MOST PERFECT MAN FOR CHARLOTTE!" She laughed and he turned to show it off to everyone as she reached into the gift box again.

By this time, Uncle Roscoe had gotten up and was taking photos. Jasper and his groomsmen were posing with and around the trophy like he'd really actually won something and Charlotte was tickled, because she knew that in Jasper's mind, he really had. She cleared her throat and he passed his trophy to Fisher, "Don't let anything happen to that."

"We're at your wedding. What could happen?" Fisher wondered.

Charlotte said, "This next gift is something that I had made for you to represent who you are to me and let you show that off to everyone else." She pulled his crown from behind her back and he jumped up and down and fanned himself, then reached for it with gimme hands. Henry had forgotten how childlike and full of excitement that Jasp could be whenever he had something great in front of him, but Charlotte seemed to be super warm and soft to his less than classy reactions. Well, she knew who she was marrying, Henry guessed. It would have been silly for them to expect him to act any other way.

"I am the KING!" Jasper declared.

"We really should've gotten this presented to him in the dressing rooms and let it be a story instead of part of the ceremony," Piper told Henry."

"Naw. It's his special day and Char wants to really make him feel it." Piper shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess."

Charlotte told the guests, "In case any of you are wondering, Jasper buys and makes me really awesome gifts all the time, and I don't usually get to have a huge show of affection for him, regularly…"

"Don't worry about them," Jasper said and waved a hand at the guests, "No offense," he tacked on. She pulled out something small and red and he didn't know what it was, but his spirits were so high, it wouldn't have mattered what it was, because nothing could change his energy right now.

"This is an exact replica of my heart that I made with the project that I've been working on in my free time, for those custom made 3D printing organs? I scanned my own heart, made this replica, and then jazzed it up a little with some red crystals and a "tattoo" of your name… Because my heart is yours. You're definitely king of that…"

He stood corrected. His energy COULD change. He was in a dangerous state of euphoria. An indescribable overwhelming joy that rendered him motionless and speechless. She extended her hands and he saw the scripted "Jasper" on the center of what was basically her heart… He accepted it with shaky hands and moved in to kiss her.

Henry tiny shreaked and said, "It's not time for that! RINGS!" He called out.

Piper collected the gifts back into the box and told Fisher, "You're responsible for these now." He grabbed a frat member and repeated the same thing to him.

The ring exchange was pretty uneventful, considering, but whenever Jasper was told he could kiss the bride, he let it all out. It became uncomfortable after a while, with their friends and family all looking away awkwardly, like her parents and his mom, or morbidly obligated to stare, like Ray and Jake. Uncle Roscoe was taking photos and cheering, "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' BOUT LIL' NEPHEW! TRIED TO TELL Y'ALL!"

_**Recessional**_

A crowned Jasper happily walked his new wife back down the aisle, to the chorus of his friends barking and this time, others joined in, Henry followed with the dogs, eager to get out to use the bathroom, Schwoz followed behind Coogie and Snek and Piper shook her head and took Fisher's arm. "You didn't keep ANY of them in proper order," she said. "And where is the gift chest?"

"Shhhh… This is a celebration, Old Henry's sister," Fisher said. They walked out with fake smiles plastered on. Then, he immediately rushed to go find the gift chest. Big Dog would MURDER him if he lost that thing!

_**The Reception**_

Henry paid for a wedding cake, because Charlotte's Charlotte cake could simply be her bride's cake and Jasper's groom cake was a realistic looking lion, because both he and the wedding "are Leos," but there was no way that Henry's first wedding was not going to have a memorable cake whenever a lot of people ONLY accepted wedding invitations FOR the cake. So, Jasper had his, Charlotte had her Charlotte cake, and Henry ordered a multiple tier wedding cake with red, orange, and yellow edible flowers and similarly colored fruit cut and shaped like flowers or hearts. "I am so good at this!" he told himself.

They did all of that reception stuff - the garter, the bouquet and such. Henry was finally ready to relax, while Jasper and Char looked ready to… take on the world! "Good for them," he said to himself.

"Yeah, they make it seem possible for everybody, right?" He heard a voice that he had come to recognize as "New Henry's" voice say. He turned around and the guy smiled and asked, "You gonna get some cake?" Henry looked down to see that he was just standing there holding the cake cutter and he set it down. New Henry said, "This was good. Charlotte gave me a taste of her bridal cake and it was delicious! Gourmet, even. But nothing beats a well done wedding cake. That's basically what I come to weddings for."

"EXACTLY!" Henry finally found his voice. "Can you believe that Jasper wanted me to cover a table in Charlotte cakes and have THOSE be the "wedding cake?"

"I know Big Brother Big Dog, so yes. I can believe that he wanted that." He laughed. "Good thing you changed his mind. This is one of the best wedding cakes I've ever tasted. I'm kinda an expert too. My mom made wedding cakes to pay for my college."

"Really? Does she still make them, because I don't really have an official cake person for my business references."

"Yeah, she does. I'll give her your number," New Henry said. Henry nodded, excitedly and pulled out his phone. "Also, I'll take it too… If… You want to ever… I mean, I know we've only hung out doing the wedding stuff and only know each other through Jasper and Charlotte, but…"

Henry's eyes were wide and he wondered, _Is this super hot dude hitting on me right now? _Because, he had not been on a date or anything in ages and even whenever he used to, it was exclusively with girls/women, but he had never really thought about a guy before and… who knows? Maybe he was into that…

"It's okay if you don't!" New Henry said, seeing his hesitation.

"It's not that. I just didn't know if you wanted to hang out as bros or if you were like… wanting to… hang out…" Henry bit his lip nervously.

"Are _you _interested in hanging out with a guy?"

"I've just realized that I'm not _against _it. Never really came up before. I mean, outside of Jasper, I hadn't ever really thought of dudes in that way. But, you're… like super attractive and if that IS what you meant, yes. And also, if you just wanted to hang out as bros, yes too. I never get to hang out. I need a life." Henry laughed uncomfortably.

"Cool…" New Henry smiled and asked, "You wanna dance?"

"Yes. Yes, I do!" Henry practically cheered.

"Okay. Also… My name is Craig… You… know that, right?"

"Of course I do," Henry said.

"Because I just told you?"

"Correct!"

.

Jasper wore his crown for the rest of the night and Charlotte felt like he was never going to take the thing off. He kept calling her Mrs. Dunlop, then saying, "Excuse me, Mrs. JASPER Dunlop," to which she'd think, _Excuse me, Mrs. Charlotte Dunlop! _But, she let him have these moments of joy. They had about a week to get settled into married life, wouldn't be able to have a honeymoon yet, and both would have a TON of work whenever they got back to the lab and the firm. So, for now, it was just all that they could do - enjoy each other for what they were and what they had just become, together.


	23. The Future

**The Future**

They didn't really have a "honeymoon is over" phase. One of the benefits of a 6 year relationship, including a 2 year engagement was that you sort of figure out most of the things to make it work in that time period. _Especially _if you're as smart as Charlotte or as caring as Jasper.

The problems that they ran into were almost exclusively work related.

Jasper had become someone that he wasn't sure that he wanted to be (something Charlotte warned him about when he initially accepted his internship), but he felt like he HAD to do it. She never wanted him to try to change for her, but she did appreciate that he had the desire and the potential to do so. He made the choice to be who he felt like he should be for them and a future family… and it was a little bit miserable. He had been working at the firm for a few years and for most of that time, he sold stocks, had sales meetings, and just worked himself like crazy at something boring and often uncomfortably unethical.

How had he gotten to that point, he would sometimes wonder. He rationalized that anywhere he could get his foot in the door would be some place that he would work hard, prove himself and move ahead. He was correct about that, but that fact didn't bring him joy and neither did all of the money that he was making. Plus, Charlotte was working so much, so many fickle hours, and having a hard time at work. They weren't seeing much of each other and even when they tried to plan their quality time together, she usually fell asleep before time was up. He didn't mind it _too much. _She was still _there. _They just weren't connecting like he wanted them to. He missed his wife.

He had been so eager to try to get Charlotte to settle down and to try to take care of her that he abruptly rushed into a career that he believed could sustain them, that he could also possibly be good at. Now, he realized that he should have probably figured out more about himself, instead of trying to have things together - or seem to - just because she had things together for herself. Because of that misstep, he was now trying to figure out something else that he could do, and also trying to be a good husband to an even busier wife.

Charlotte was saving lives, building artificial body parts, researching, and testing medical treatments. She had been part of a team that made several HUGE advancements in her field. And on this team, she was one of only two women, and one of only three people who were not Caucasian. Herself, three men - one Indian, one Chinese, and one Korean, and a Russian woman were the only minorities in the entire building, and they rarely worked on the same projects, so.. Basically, she was often alone and even when they were around, the microaggressions they faced were very different. From her perspective, it seemed like she frequently got the brunt of things. Because even those male counterparts seemed to forget how they were sometimes treated and they handled her with the very same attitudes. (Or they just viewed her differently, from the start) Either way, the work, while rewarding, was exhausting enough without the additional stress of her coworkers being unkind, but sometimes, they honestly seemed like they were trying to shove her out or make her quit!

Jasper began to conduct these seminars to try to tell CEO's how to make sales jobs less hateable and while Charlotte didn't think it would lead anywhere (she knew that if he fell on his face, she'd have them covered). He… actually did well - above and beyond what she expected and by their second anniversary, he was branching out from the firm and beginning his own career as an Executive Coach - which Charlotte didn't even know WAS a profession, much less that it could be as lucrative as it seemed to be for him. He hardly even seemed to be working and he was starting to bring in more money than she was! She. Was. Saving. Lives… But, she was on a team saving lives. He was helping huge companies… by himself… and he was LOVING it! _Sigh. _

One day, she came home particularly upset while he was finishing up some items on a PowerPoint presentation, and she was ready to either punch something, or cry, or both - but was trying to rationalize that if she did either, she might have to explain it to him. Before she could come to a decision, she felt Jasper's hands on her waist and she jumped. She hadn't even seen him get up. "Whoa! You okay?" He asked. She started crying and leaned against him. "Hey… Who do I have to go down there and punch?" he asked, rubbing her back.

"Nobody… I just… Why are they always so…?" She wiped her face on his shirt and squeezed him tightly. He lifted her up and went to sit back down, resting her on his lap when he did. She sniffled, "I thought that once I had my official degree and had been working there for a while that the respect would come. I thought - there's no way that the kind of treatment that I got in highschool at my crummy job was gonna be the way that it was when I became a member of society. It's so much worse. They don't respect me any more than at the Man Cave, but these people are all intellectuals, so you know that it's deliberate, that they mean it, and that they can cover it up, rationalize that it isn't what I'm saying. And if I'm outnumbered, what then? I look either crazy or angry, which just gives everyone else more fuel to invalidate me. I HATE that place, so much! But, I fought to get there. It is a coveted placement. All of my work history is there. Every change that I've helped to make is related to this company. If I leave, I don't get to take my individual merit with me and what will they say to potential employers? Probably bad things! Any time that I even so much as glance at another laboratory, they treat me like I'm trying to go sell secrets or something."

"Why don't you just take a little break?" He wondered.

"I can't. It could be career suicide. By the time I get back, things have still kept moving and nobody will care to catch me up, if I can't stay fully immersed enough, and that would defeat the entire purpose of a break. The only way that I could possibly do that is to get sick, injured, or pregnant and even then, the bounce back might keep me lagging behind…" He was staring at her. "What?"

"Just… the thought of you pregnant. It always makes me...enraptured."

She smiled and leaned back against him. "I mean, I've eventually gotta… We did say that we'd have a couple of them."

"How about this? We work on putting a baby in you and if it doesn't happen and you have to vent every single day, I'll be here for you, unless I'm on my way down there to give somebody a piece of my mind. If it does, then you'll have an excuse to get some space from them and you'll still have work to do, because - hello, we'll have a baby."

"I'm not gonna argue for or against anything at the moment, but I definitely want to immediately get into the stuff that translates to working on it."

"You wanna do some sex stuff."

"I feel like I clearly suggested as much."

"Yes!"

.

It took her a couple of months to decide to stop using her birth control, and another month or so for her body to feel normal without it, and around the fourth month after this conversation, she received her news via every single pregnancy symptom imaginable and Jasper pulling out a home pregnancy test and saying, "I got a good feeling that this is it!" While her face was still in the toilet.

Yes, he quickly realized his foolery and rushed to try to see about her, hold her hair back, etc… hunt down crackers and salt. Once she was capable, she took the test, but she already knew what it would say. She had never felt this way in her entire life! Besides, she worked in the medical field, she knew what this had to be. _Positive. _

Jasper called his parents on a group call, first and spoke with them for a while, about arrangements and them coming to visit and stuff. Then, he called the Man Cave. He thought to call them first, but since it was officially a family thing, he went for his blood family first. Besides, he knew that this call would be much longer. They talked for at least a few hours and didn't wrap it up until Piper wondered, "Is that Charlotte lurking around in the background?" Charlotte was finally out of bed! She greeted everyone, whined about there being nothing to eat (the fridge and pantry were both full, though, and started crying as she went back to bed. "Is she gonna be like that for the next few months?" Henry wondered.

"I don't think so. She just didn't feel good today. Threw up all morning and had to call out of work. Now, she'll have to start setting steps in motion there to prepare for this and I think she's just tired. I'll have to get her something to eat, though. There's food here, but maybe she's having cravings? I'll have to check, so I have to go!"

Charlotte had called her mom first, cried a lot and said that she was already tired of being pregnant, even though she had just found out. They talked for a while, then she laid down and listened to windstorms, then took a nap and woke up extremely thirsty, only to find that after drinking half a gallon of water in one sitting, she had zero gallon of food she wanted to eat.

She flopped into the bed, crying. This was… scary. For some reason, she thought that when this happened, she'd be cool, since she had every aspect of the plan figured out and stuff, but she had not taken the way symptoms that she had only read about previously would feel. The nausea was unsettling, and she was starving, but the thought of eating anything in there for whatever reason made her feel sick, as Jasper came in and sat on the side of the bed next to her, she snuggled herself into his lap. "You're hungry? What ya wanna eat?"

"I don't know."

"You want… some bacon and eggs?"

"No!"

"A sandwich of some sort, maybe some soup?" She considered this, but then, shook her head. "Give me a nudge, Chef's Kiss. Italian? Chinese?"

"You know those fried turkey tenders from the food truck near the university? I want some of those, a basket of them with the chips and gravy." She sobbed, because that was about 30 minutes away.

"Okay, well… You'll have to ride along, if you wanna eat it fresh," he said and began to help her into her shoes. "I think I'm gonna get something from there too."

She sat up and sniffled, "It's kinda far and we have food in the house."

"You kidding? You're literally growing a life inside of you. Even if it's early, it matters to me. I don't care what you ask for, you're gonna get it as long as you're like this. Why not? You were already worth everything and now, you're worth everything plus one." He lifted her up gently, by the hands and promised, "And you always will be immeasurable to me for this."

"More than before?" She wondered.

"Not because you weren't enough! Because, you were already more than enough and you've still given me this wonderful thing. This is gonna be much harder on you than it is on me, so… I have to make it as easy on you as I have the power to. Come on, Pretty Little Thing." He placed his hand on the small of her back and helped her to the door.

Fried turkey tenders became her go to food. Jasper would order them for delivery almost every night so that whenever she got home, if she wanted some, they were available. She also ate a lot of chips. She would always have a family sized bag on her at all times, sometimes, multiple.

She worked for several months, as her job technically couldn't get rid of someone for being pregnant, but her work load definitely had to change. Even if her body wasn't suddenly very aware of how tiring a single day in the life of her was, Jasper was always monitoring stuff. "Should you be doing that? Because at least 17 articles stated that you shouldn't at this time…"

From the day that they found out about it, Jasper began a Junior Journal. He put everything in it pertaining to the future addition and wrote it as though he was writing to the unborn child, sort of like the affirmation journals that he and Charlotte kept, but with way more details in it. He even wrote "Father Vows." _So that it is official everything that I intend to do for you for the rest of my life… _

"Hey, Charlotte… you're getting kinda far along now, so I was wondering if we could maybe figure out what we're having and maybe… start thinking of names and stuff?"

"I was thinking that we were raising any children without labels and letting them tell us when they're ready what they feel like they are, and also… I like the name Jasper."

He smiled brightly, "I definitely like the thought of not putting any genitalia based societal pressures on them, but you know… society will, and what if they… look like a girl?"

"Jasper can be a girl's name, if they turn out to be a girl at some point that they're sure of. I love the name Jasper and I think it's good for a firstborn."

"Firstborn? You… would really do this again? You HATE being pregnant!"

"I mean… I hated the early days, definitely, but the further we come, the closer I feel to them. Now, I'm like… This is my kid in here, finishing up their formation. No longer a mass of tissue making me feel like my stomach has been kicked around. Now, they're my little Jasper. After the initial issues, I'm grateful for them."

.

By seven months, she was at home most of the time. Maybe being a mother could help her segway from the lab, onto somewhere that she might be valued. She was going to keep her hand to the pulse of the science community to figure that part out. Meanwhile, she was able to do most of the nursery by herself, while Jasper took on a few huge clients, including his former employer, and he began negotiations for his first business related book.

The nursery Charlotte decided to tap into her love for art - something she rarely allowed herself a chance to do very often, because she had been so busy. But, she had been in a baby shop with her mother and saw a cute adorable Creation Story nursery set, so she basically copied that idea, but of course, with a more practical spin. _Where Did I Come From? _Was painted onto a very lovely sign to hang up right when you walk into the nursery, and the "creation story" along the wall was basically a reenactment of her relationship with Jasper, including some gifts and souvenirs that highlighted certain moments, like the collection of Custom Star Maps that Jasper had began getting her when they were dating and gave to her as an engagement gift. "The moment we first kissed, When you told me that you love me, The night that we… Chef's Kissed, The night that you decided that I was worth another chance, The night that you said, "Yes." The next one will be monumental. It'll be one for the moment you said "I do."

So, she hung up six custom star maps in the nursery that had a kind of space/planet type decor, stars, sun and moon and stuff on a dark purple color. The custom star maps were designed to look like what the sky looked like at the exact moments that Jasper had ordered them for. The next one, which she intended to hang next to the crib would be the moment that Jasper Jr. was born. She began calling them Jasper Jr. in her mind to differentiate between her Jaspers mentally.

Jasper loved the idea of putting the maps in the nursery and of course, the idea of Charlotte spending hours chronicling their love on walls for their baby had him a completely mushy mess.

Henry came over to help out and convince Charlotte to allow him to throw a Sip and See for "Baby Jasper," which was what Henry called them.

"You got that from Real Housewives," she said.

"Yeah, and it was fabulous. Imagine us all, dressed in all white, like an all white party or whatever and the baby in their brightest, flyest, boldest outfit and everyone is sipping bubbly and gushing over Baby Jasper and all he wants is to you know, suck on some titty."

"Sounds like too much and also, please do not speak of my titties in this way."

"In the titty way?"

"STOP SAYING TITTY!" She snapped. She calmed down and said, "If you wanna throw a party, you can do the shower. I don't think I'm having one, otherwise."

"Your mom's not doing one? Or Adanna?" He asked, surprised, then immediately called Piper, "Hey! Did you know that we're supposed to be in charge of Charlotte's Baby Shower?"

"WHAT? Since when? Rosemary and Adanna aren't doing it?"

"I don't really need one," Charlotte tried, but Henry and Piper were already in their mode. He was sending her all over the shop for different stuff that she would have to set aside for his Baby Shower vision. Charlotte laid on the couch and ate roasted nuts. They'd be at this for a while and at seven months, she was never in the mood for any of their "extra."

.

Rosemary and Adanna _had been _planning a baby shower, but it was proving difficult for them because they kept having to cross out ideas that pertained to gender. Neither of them noticed how much gender related entertainment was a part of baby plans. Even with ordering gifts - Charlotte had given them a list of acceptable items, but whenever Rosemary sent her a photo to ask about something, she often declined, saying, "Something more gender neutral."

"You know, this kid isn't gonna just want gender neutral stuff their whole life, right?"

"When they're old enough to see stuff that they want and like, then it's their choice. Right now, anything else would be imposed upon them. I just want Jasper Jr to be able to look back at baby photos of themselves and seeing their baby pictures. Too many people have told me that they look at baby pictures of a body that they didn't feel connected to, dressed in the wrong type of clothes and playing with toys that they never would have selected for themselves. That's heartbreaking."

"Okay, but anybody can be a firefighter!"

"Yes, but that says fireman in training, Mom. If there's one that says firefighter, sure. I mean, it's weirdly worded because what baby is "training" to be a firefighter?" Rosemary hung up on her.

Adanna began sewing stuff for them. She didn't want baby blue or baby pink items, but she accepted baby blue AND baby pink items, so whenever one of them found something that was too cute to live without, Adanna brought it home and touched it up to be a more inclusive outfit. Rosemary joked, "This baby gonna be wearing transgender flags until they can talk!"

Adanna told her, "I am so excited that you're familiar with a trans flag!"

"Girl, I been studying all the gender neutral stuff that I can to make sure my grandbaby winds up both loved AND fierce, and a lot of the parents with gender neutral upbringing tips are either trans or have trans kids, so I got a lot of flags in my memory banks, now. Have you kept up with Pansy to make sure she's sticking to stuff properly?"

"I try to not keep up with her as much as possible. I thought since you live in Swellview, you were on that!"

"Ugh, I don't like her though!"

"Put Cohort on it. She's good at being around people she doesn't like, because she doesn't like anybody."

"Yeah, but she might give her gills on her face or something if she gets on her nerves too much… Which… You know what? Wouldn't be my problem! You're right, Sis."

.

Charlotte spent most of her free time working on stuff that made her pregnancy easier and fussing about the fact that people didn't think of a lot of this stuff sooner, then often sulking about the fact that they probably did, but didn't get the support or funding to make it mainstream because their society didn't care about reproductive care. It made her consider medical school. Sure, she had been out of college for a few years, but she still could go, and that would pave the way for her to be either away from the lab or more qualified to move to a different one. Maybe, she would be able to be a medical biochemist. She had some familiarity with it, having worked with some in her career. It wasn't like if she became a medical biochemist she would somehow not be able to do biomedical engineering anymore. She'd be _better _for it, and so could maternity. Her mother kept sending her reports about the dangers Black women face in the maternity process (thinking that she was unaware or that it was helpful, when really, Charlotte knew all of this information and tried not to think about it so much as she made sure that she would have the proper treatment and care), but it DID light a fire under her about medical school!

The day of the shower, not very long before her due date, Henry and Piper took her to this spa to have a day of pampering, styled her afterwards in this all white maternity gown with one of those halo crowns and Piper did her makeup. "You look like an angel," Henry gushed.

"A pregnant angel?" she retorted.

"Yes!" He squealed.

They got back to her house and whenever they pulled in, she was already emotional. Dang pregnancy hormones. There were white, pink and blue flowers and balloons decorating the outside of the place and whenever she got inside, she saw a life sized statue of herself on a pedestal, wearing what she had on right now and as pregnant as she was. "What the?" She looked around, extremely confused.

"It's my present!" Jasper cheered. She was in shock. "To you… For the…" he gestured at her belly. "It's a gesture of tribute." Tears were falling. _Was he gonna be doing stuff like this to her for the rest of their lives?_

Henry prompted her along, "She's a little overwhelmed. Let's get to the shower, Mama."

Between the four of them - Adanna, Rosemary, Piper and Henry - they were able to organize a beautiful and fun gender neutral baby shower and evaluated all of the gifts beforehand, to ensure they fit the criteria. Jasper had on his crown and remained next to Charlotte the entire time. She looked happy that everyone was there, but very tired, too. His mom and stepdad showed up together. It was the first time he'd seen them together in a while, but his stepdad told him how proud of him he was and how excited he was to finally be a grandfather… Weirdness. Jasper couldn't help but wonder if it was because he now had money, was very successful and continuously becoming moreso. But, he wasn't gonna hold a grudge. Years of therapy made him unresentful towards the man and he did seem to genuinely want to be a grandfather.

Craig did the photos, and the photoshoot, which included pics like Charlotte seated with various groups around her, one with her friends, with her parents, with all the parents, with all the moms, with all the dads… And in all the dads, she somehow wound up with her dad, Jasper's dads, Ray, Schwoz and Mr. Hart. Her dad stared at the last three whenever they came forward when Craig said, "And now one with the dads!" But Charlotte took his hand into hers and just shook her head. They laughed about it and it became one of her favorites of all of the photos.

The past nine months had been a voyage that she hadn't expected. The future was going to be glorious.


	24. Medical School & Mommyhood

**Medical School & Mommyhood**

Imagine, if you will, Uncle Roscoe - a very sizable man with long locs, singing This Woman's Work, in a true classical Soprano…

all that his niece Charlotte wants to do is rest because she spent hours working as he sings about to push a tiny human out of her body. Her husband, Jasper, an Uncle Roscoe enthusiast and a lover of emotional displays is visibly very emotionally shaken by this lovely gesture as he holds in his arms their small child.

As Charlotte's patience wears thin, Uncle Roscoe's performance gets thicker and when he croons, "Oh Darling, make it go…"

"I'll make YOU go!" She practically shrieks.

Jasper gasps, but rubs the back of her neck, lovingly, "She's tired, Uncle Rox. That was the most beautiful gift that anybody has given us, since this, the day of our daughter's birth…" He winced, "Baby's birth! Baby's birth!" He said and smiled at winked at Charlotte.

She had been trying to program him from treating their child like a son or daughter, so whenever the baby finally came out and she realized that they were in that female presenting body, she cried. She knew that meant a harder time for this kid, but Jasper cheered, "I have a daughter!" And, well… That was just gonna mess up the footage, wasn't it? What if Jasper Jr isn't a girl? She was very preoccupied with the thought, because now, she felt like Jasper had gotten off of the page of how she wanted to raise kids. How they agreed to raise their kids before she could ever agree to carrying one full term! If he saw Jasper Jr as his "little girl," he might treat her that way and while Jasper was very progressive in a lot of ways, he still had some of that good old fashioned sexism in his DNA and she just wanted whoever they were to be someone that if the world was gonna put stipulations and limitations on… their parents at least would never.

Jasper held the baby close, most of the time. Charlotte was in a lot of pain and discomfort. She wasn't the "physical pain" type. She abhorred it and had never handled it well. If Jasper could have switched places with her and took on all of the pain and discomfort, he would have. He didn't say that to her, because he thought it would seem like a frivolous platitude, but she knew deep down inside that was the kind of person he was. He would do anything for her to not hurt. Whenever he handed Baby Jasper back to her, he went to escort Uncle Roscoe out of the hospital.

Charlotte looked down at this brown baby person with brown eyes, stretched wide, but unable to focus, the softest and curliest of curls that she had ever seen and a slightly too big onesie that Jasper must've put on them when Charlotte was asleep that had "My Daddy loves me more than the WHOLE world!" and a drawing of a heart shaped Earth. "You are this whole world." Jasper sniffled and Charlotte glanced up. She hadn't noticed that he was back until then. Maybe he had just returned. He quickly made his way to the bed and rested next to them. "Daddy's back."

"So, we didn't get a chance to fill out their birth certificate. I know that you've called them Jasper Jr most of the time, but I didn't think you'd want that on official paperwork, since Jr. is usually gender specific to boys, and because there's no way we're giving them my middle name, even if you've rebranded it." They laughed.

"No. I don't want them to be your junior, not because of the history of junior, but because of your middle name. I was thinking, though. Whenever I rebranded your middle name, which, may I say is such an EXTRA description of what I actually did…"

"You stated that my middle name was a prophecy because I'm so determined. That was brilliant and beautiful. I wish we were in love when it happened so I could make love to you for how awesome that was…"

"It got me thinking!" She cut him off. This soon after labor, the LAST thing she wanted to think about was making love. "The word "determined." Because yours was an uncertain usage. To be determined is so tentative and unstable, unless it's a declaration of this version of you. Look at what you've done with yourself over the years. Only a determined person could do that and I know that your middle name wasn't actually a name, but a placeholder, but we don't need any placeholder. We can just give them a name. And, I can't think of one more fitting and accurate than something that I think of every time that I look at you… Determined."

"Determined?" He repeated.

"Several cultures name children things that are attributes or wishes or descriptions. Even some of the names that they name their children translates into characteristics when you put them in their original form. We speak English, so Determined. BUT… If you just hate it, I can go for a name that translates to it, like Erimentha or Ernest… Ernesta… etc…"

"No. No. Those are hideous. Anyway, I love it. I just… I keep thinking that it isn't possible for me to have more joy, but then, I keep finding more, or… it keeps finding me. If someone had told me at 16 that I would have a family, an amazing wife who is out of my league in like every way, but loves me just like she's in my league, and a beautiful baby that looks just like her and door after door of opportunity to thrive in my career and take care of them… I just… I would have thought it was make believe. I'm living a dream." He wrapped his arms around Charlotte and rested on her shoulder. "Jasper Determined Dunlop."

"We can call them "Jazz," just to make it a little less convoluted when speaking at home," she suggested. "They look like a Jazz."

"They look like a Charlotte," he said and booped her nose.

.

Medical school was NOT a brilliant idea for a new mother, but Charlotte was always a hardworking person, so she figured that she could handle this. Whenever it seemed to get really hard, Jasper would always say, "You know, you can quit, whenever you want." But, that would have the opposite effect. She pushed harder. No, she _couldn't _quit whenever she wanted to! In addition to that being the opposite of what she wanted to do, it would be too much like what she knew Jasper wanted her to do. He wanted her to stay at home with the kids whenever he wasn't able to. Speaking of… Shortly after Charlotte got her entry into medical school, she also got pregnant, again.

What could she say? Surely, old her would have planned for and against this, but mommy her, busy with Jazz, medical school, etc took the time that she could whenever she got with her husband to enjoy it and she hadn't been as meticulous as you might expect! So, she had two babies, less than a year apart and was going to medical school during her second pregnancy.

Jasper wanted her to take a break. It was too much, he'd say. Nobody should put themselves through all of this bodily and mental strain, if they didn't have to and she didn't have to. They were more than comfortable without her having a doctorate, and the girls were having so many moments that she was missing out on! "The kids," she corrected him. "Until they say otherwise…"

"Well, you're never home to implement that," he said, sulking. She threw him a glare. He sighed and said, "I don't slip up, much. But, nobody knows a boy named Amber, so it's harder to keep up with it with her than with Jazz."

"With them!" They both said at the same time, correcting him.

Charlotte sighed. "I can't take a break. I took a break from work when I had Jazz. I took a break from medical school when I had Amber."

"Hardly!"

"It affected me!" She squealed, collected her things and stormed out of the room. Jasper wiped his face and looked over at the two small children. The toddler with a full head of wild curls, trying to give a ball to the baby in the walker, with equally as curly hair, but not as much of it. Amber accepted the ball and immediately tried to stuff it into their mouth. Jasper told himself that it had been rolling on the floor, but if he snatched it away, they were definitely gonna cry. He didn't need to upset another one of his loves tonight. He just wished that Charlotte could realize what she was missing out on whenever she wasn't around. What he couldn't put into words… the bonds being formed in her absence… They were supposed to be doing all of this _together._

Several times, Jasper would make plans for the entire family at times when she didn't have "anything pressing" coming up, but by the time it was time for the plans, she would either be so tired that she told him to just go without her, or he would cancel, seeing that she was tired, which generally resulted in her fussing very grouchily about why he cancelled when he knew that she would be trying to sleep. Or better yet, why even be on this side of the house when the house that they bought was huge? "I THOUGHT that even though you're tired that you might want to at least TRY to pretend that our children exist!" he snapped back once. She was angered to full awakeness. He regretted letting that accusation slip out. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to say that."

"You said it. So, you meant it," she commented, clearly angry.

"No. I don't know where that came from. Some dark and wrong part of me. I don't feel that way…"

"And the thing that perplexes me about you saying that is that I wasn't even really ready to start having children. I was going through things at my workplace and I was desperate and vulnerable, and _you _convinced me that I could do whatever I wanted to do and began to put the pressure on me to begin having children."

"That's not exactly how I remember…"

"So, in my emotionally distressed state, I came to the decision that if I did have a baby and transition away from that lab, Jasper will have my back!"

"I do… Char…" He sounded desperate, but she was not finished.

"SO, I did have a baby and I did transition away from the lab and I entered medical school to further my career, and in between, I went to networking luncheons, dog tired, with a small infant and sometimes two dogs and I smiled and socialized - two things I don't even really like doing that much - with _your _clients, to support _your _career change that you SPRUNG on us suddenly one day then dived head first into it with my complete and utter support, because I knew that you hated your job and wanted to do something else. Granted, there were no children at the time, but if there were, I would never address you the way that you just came at me."

"If the kids were born, I wouldn't have made such a rash decision!" He said.

"So… only the kids' feelings matter? They don't even know what's going on. I had to just tell myself to stay out of your way while you sorted something out to bring you joy and when I do the same thing, kids or not, I expect the same respect. It isn't like I never see them! It isn't like I abandoned them. A lot of women are career women. Some of them out there doing it by themselves. I take the time that I take because I know that the two children that I grew inside of my body, painfully ushered into this world, and in exhaustion and dedication fed on my own two teets, are in safe hands, because I've trusted myself in those very same hands for many years before I ever even decided to make the _sacrifices _that I made to my career trajectory and to my body to have them. So. You. Saying. Such. A. Thing. To. Me?" Her shoulders slumped. Her anger had been released and replaced by hurt and sadness. "Fuck you, Jasper." She whispered, started crying and left the room.

"Baby!" he called and pulled two handfuls of his own hair. _How could he? How could he have sank so low as to say something like that to her? _They didn't argue a lot, not over really serious stuff, so maybe he just reverted to the only kinds of arguments he was used to - the way he and his mom would speak at each other's flaws instead of talking out their problems. Charlotte definitely didn't deserve that, especially when they hadn't really discussed this concern of his in any real way. So, it was not only out of nowhere to her, but he could only imagine how extremely hurtful that must've been. She was supposed to be able to trust him with her feelings, with her heart, with the truth. He _did _feel like she didn't spend enough time with the kids, but that wasn't the way to say it, and while she's tired and sleepy and… "Fuck!" he hissed at himself.

"Fuck!" Jazz repeated. He gasped and rushed over to where they were playing with the ladybug hockey set that Pansy bought.

"No, no, no… Don't say that J."

They giggled and repeated, "Fuck!" Daddy's excitement face was hilarious to them and they realized that the key to getting it was to say whatever "Fuck" was. Jasper sat on the floor and covered his face. He was really not doing a good job today. Jazz pulled his hands from over his face and laughed, "Fuck." He could only laugh now too, at this point. Amber was crawling to the puck. They were gonna try to eat it. That was all they did. Poop their diaper and try to eat everything but what was served to them as food. He snatched them away just in time.

Charlotte came out of the bedroom, having been crying for a while, ready to face Jasper again and smooth over whatever happened, because even though she felt attacked and was going to be hurting for a while, she knew that Jasper would never say something just to hurt her, so that was obviously how he felt and they needed to come up with a solution for it. Because, she was not going to tolerate another low blow like that in the future.

Jasper had started on dinner. Jazz was "helping" and Amber Reign was already in the highchair, with an empty plastic bowl and spoon to hold them over. The moment they saw Charlotte, they began to kick their legs happily and try to get out of the seat, so she went to collect them. Jasper glanced over and just seeing her was overcome with guilt again. Jazz went over too and began to tell their mom a story that Charlotte understood almost perfectly, despite the fact that none of it was in real words that adults could just understand. Jasper could sometimes detect a few sprinkled in, but he didn't have that gift that Charlotte tended to have where she pretty much got all of what this kid was telling her.

He came over and said, "Char, about earlier…"

"Please don't taint what _little _time I spend with my children with any of that. We can get into it later." She said it with a smile, as to not alarm the children, but he saw her eyes, how sad they were and the flecs of anger whenever he spoke. After dinner, which was weird because they rarely got dinner together as a family and whenever they did, usually Jasper and Charlotte were catching up like besties and sprinkling the children in. Jasper was silent. He didn't want to say anything. Charlotte was talking with the kids. Helping Amber with the spoon and Jazz to pronounce things a little bit better. But, afterwards, Charlotte said, "I'll get the kids cleaned up. You got the table?"

He just nodded. He was… simply depressed that he had done this to his home. He had invited in something ugly and something he never wanted to bring from his first family to this one. She sighed, collected Amber, kissed him on the cheek and took Jazz's hand. "You kids are filthy! Who taught you two how to eat?" She joked around. Jasper was grateful for that pity kiss on the cheek, but he wasn't gonna forgive himself any time soon.

He cleaned up the kitchen and went into the bedroom. Charlotte had already went to sleep. Probably couldn't sleep earlier after he'd upset her. He didn't know if he should get into bed or go to the couch. There was a pullout wall bed in Jazz's room and a cot in Amber's nursery. He could crash in either, but that might confuse the kids. They only used those whenever the kids were scared or sick or sleep eluded them for some other reason. Not for selfish dads who say hurtful things to their wives when frustrated. She stirred and gasped when she saw him standing there. "My god, Jasper! What're you doing?"

"Trying to figure out if I should get into bed or not. Didn't mean to wake you." He sat on the bed, and didn't move. He felt her arms wrap behind him from behind and her head rest on his back. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have…"

"Let me talk first, okay?" He nodded. "Okay. I've had a rough time in medical school. I had a rough time prior to that. Before, whenever I had a rough time, I'd come home and vent and fuss and cry and you were always there for me. Today, I wanted to sleep. That's all I wanted, and I kept hearing Amber screaming every time you took something from them. Jazz talking nonstop. And, that's what they should be doing. They're kids. Kids are noisy creatures. I should have just came and asked, "Hey. Think you could maybe take them on a day trip or something. I really want to sleep." Instead, I came in fussing and I really shouldn't have spoken to you that way, especially in front of them. So, it wasn't like I came home and wanted to go to sleep and you went off on me. I probably triggered something. I probably made you feel some type of way. But, Jasper… even though I am holding myself accountable for my part in that argument…" Her voice cracked. "You can't say things that hurtful to me. Okay? Because… I can't handle it. If you had fussed back and told me not to talk to you that way, I'd have been mad, maybe. I'm cranky and tired, so I probably wouldn't have been super rational. But, what you said…"

"It wasn't fair. I'm sorry." He turned to hold her. "I don't know why I would say something like that. I promise, all I ever speak about is how great of a mom you are. Because, you are, Char. You've put Amber in a pouch while you've studied for midterms. You've let Jazz think they were helping you study by lowkey going over anatomy notes with them. I just had an image in my head that when we started a family, it would be perfect. That's on me. Nothing's perfect, but you're always wonderful and you spend as much time as humanly possible with them. That was… so shitty of me." He sniffled. "And I accidentally taught Jazz the word "Fuck." Charlotte accidentally started laughing at that portion of the confession and he squealed, "They keep on saying it and I can't stop them!"

"I'm sure they'll survive, F Sized."

He squeezed her. "I'm still that?"

"Hurting my feelings one time doesn't make me stop loving you, but you'd better be really careful in the future. I wanted to punch you in the face." He allowed himself a little laugh.

"It wouldn't hurt. You have miserable upper body strength."

"Nu uhn. I've had to work on it because I have to be able to help move those body dummies!"

"Okay, but that won't make your punches harder, necessarily."

"You wanna test it out?" she jokingly threatened.

"I wanna hold my wife."

"Okay. But, I'm gonna lay down and actually finally get some sleep."

"Yes, that's good. You deserve it." She laid back down and Jasper wrapped himself around her, crying softly. She knew that she couldn't say anything more to help him accept that sometimes, even he'll make mistakes. She hated it though. She hadn't heard him crying in a really long time. She turned to wipe his face, as needed and did so until the sleep took over her. He didn't know if her graciousness made him feel better, or worse.

.

Her last year of medical school, Charlotte got pregnant again. Jazz was a 4 year old wild child, Amber a 2year old TOTAL princess, and this July baby that she would have, she DESPERATELY wanted not to be a Leo like their father. She loved him and everything, but did she need two personalities like that? Whenever she already had a restless Aries child and a Sagittarius drama queen. Being an Earth sign surrounded by all this fire was enough for Charlotte! "So… You want them to be a Cancer?" Jasper asked and rolled his eyes. "I can tell you right now, you don't want to deal with the emotional habits of a cancer on a daily basis. You hate dealing with emotions."

"I… don't hate dealing with emotions. And we aren't talking about some person in a mommy group. We're talking about my kids. I'd deal with whatever."

"I'm rooting for a Leo," he said flat out.

"These birthdays are so close together!" She complained. "Mine and Jazz's. Henry's and Amber's. Now yours and Ruby's."

"I like it. We're all birthstone buddies. I was so stoked to find out that even though technically Jasper isn't Jazz's birthstone, it's the planetary stone of Aries. That was awesomely cool accidental serendipity."

"You don't have to say accidental in front of serendipity." He rolled his eyes. She could stomp him in science and math, but she didn't want any of him in Language Arts. "I'm worried."

"About what?"

"That after medical school nearly tore our marriage apart that I might not even be able to use it."

"Both of those observations are ridiculous."

"I'm going to have to take a maternity leave when I should be in my internship. Which means that I will have to probably postpone it and seeing that, who will want me, Dude? It's like the world ONLY wants child producing humans to do that."

"The country, maybe. A lot of other places have better opportunities and situations when it comes to maternity politics. You wanna move somewhere?"

She laughed, "WHERE? What country would I want to just try to move to, knowing nothing of their language, society, etc, because of a maternity leave situation?"

"I didn't consider all of those things when I suggested it." Charlotte laughed and leaned in to give him a kiss, to which, of course, he responded, fully engaged.

Jazz came into the room and folded her arms, "You two kissing in the mouth in here?"

"Mind ya business!" Charlotte said back.

"Y'all nasty," Jazz commented and left.

"I feel like that couldn't have been the reason they came in here," Charlotte observed.

"They are bad at focusing, just like their daddy. I'm gonna go check things out." he was gone for about 30 seconds whenever he shouted, "OH MY GOD, AMBER!" Charlotte jumped up and went to see what that meant. Amber had a yellow power wheels convertible that Jasper had specifically done that way because all of the ones that he could find were pink or purple, and neither were colors that they liked, despite often selecting "girl things"themselves… and they had just covered it in painted handprints.

"How did they get paint?" Charlotte wondered.

Jazz said, "I got my ladder chair."

Charlotte noticed the rolling steps that Jasper sometimes used for housework and she stared at him. "I thought I put those away." He grabbed the rolling steps and Charlotte grabbed the paints. "Well, they've got an even more custom car now," he said, with a laugh.

"No more fire signs. No more fire signs…" Charlotte cooed, picking up the toddler who was wearing a Belle gown from Beauty and the Beast - their favorite Disney Princess, so she could clean the paint off of them before it got worse.

"You left the paint, Mom!" Jazz commented, even though they were the one that even got it down for Amber in the first place.

"No more fire signs. No more fire signs."

**Eight Months Later…**

"Another fire sign!" Jasper cheered. This dude was about to have a mini Leo in the house, like all of their children weren't already just various incarnations of mini Jaspers. Uncle Roscoe came to the hospital with a boombox and Charlotte already knew that she wasn't in the mood. He and Jack Leigh had given them a "blues version" of Amber by 311 whenever Amber was born and while Charlotte wanted to ban both of them from the hospital any time she had a baby, this was apparently something that Jasper felt was a good tradition. These songs. She wondered what she was about to have to endure with this infant latched on to her person to feed. Her uncle pressed play. Fire, by the Ohio Players. She put in the earplugs that she had brought in preparation for Uncle Roscoe's tribute and went to sleep. Ruby anxiously looked around to find the source of the music, but wasn't about to let go of their lifeline to milk, either.


	25. Happy, Healthy Endings for All

_Second half of the chapter is extremely kid heavy. I feel like those actually reading this know how I am about kids and writing kids into these things. Alas, we've reached the end of this journey. Thank you to all those who stuck with it. I know this fandom isn't a long story fandom and I apologize that I keep doing this to y'all. But, finally, the end is here._

**Happy, Healthy Endings for All**

Henry pulled up to the gate of "the estate" and when he was going to push the button on the little box, heard a beep and a voice say, "Henry Hart, Access Granted," before he had the chance to do so.

"They've most likely programmed it to scan your car… or your DNA," Piper commented with a shrug of her shoulders.

"How rich are our friends these days?" Henry wondered.

"Well, Charlotte is a genius who works with tech and DNA stuff, so she might have done it herself, but if not, Jasper is literally the highest paid executive coach in the country as of last year," Piper said.

"I honestly thought for a while that Jasper made that career up and I still don't even know what that means!" Henry chimed.

"He tells big bosses how to be better bosses and writes books to help little bosses become big bosses, if they have enough money to do so."

"Yeah, I don't understand HOW, either. Like… Who looked at Jasper and decided that he knew this stuff? Is he good at it, or just one of those people who got lucky and gets paid a lot?"

"The companies that he helps have better stats after he's done helping them reevaluate their model. He's gonna get one of those Netflix deals, I think. To get his own show where he basically goes in there and you see a few of his projects. He writes books, does speaking engagements, invests his money, and is kind of even helping Charlotte to try to branch out on her own. He just… is good at what he does. But, I mean… Jasper's kind of been this way. Remember whenever he was doing his vlog and podcast and he'd get all these places and fans sending him stuff? He has a knack for smoothing people over. I think if somebody is confident enough, people are willing to at least hear them out and when he got his foot in the door that way, he owned it."

"Are you… giving Jasper compliments?"

"No. I'm telling _you_ nice things about Jasper. Did you ever see his "How to be a Good Man to a Difficult Woman" series on his channel? He's got some very good life skills, when he takes the time to think about it and not just blurts stuff out."

"Wait. He had a…" He stopped speaking whenever he got closer to the house and the yard, which had a very enormous playground, off to the side like… almost like a park and a huge garden on the other side, with like… what his mind could only seem to think of as a "tiny neighborhood" beside them. "Did this come with the house?" Henry wondered.

"Nope. Jasper had it commissioned. Sat down with the kids and got their ideas, worked on some designs, spoke with his architect, and voila."

"Why are there so many little houses here when the big house is huge?"

"That you'll have to ask them."

.

Jasper was giving directions to the crew that he had working on this event, which Henry could tell were frat boys who probably knew him as an alumnus and wanted to make good with him. He could hardly believe that his Craig used to be one of those guys. He'd be meeting them later on, because he had some work emergency and insisted that Henry go on without him.

Whenever the Hart siblings walked up, Jasper dismissed the crew and came to hug them. "Hey! Glad you two could actually make it! I think this is your first time coming to the estate at all, so what do you think, finally seeing it in person?" (That was more to Henry, because Piper saw it before, even if it was only in the beginning.)

"What is this property, Dude?" Henry asked, marvelling around.

Jasper smiled proudly, "Well, the site where Charlotte will be opening her center after her hospital fellowship is in this area, so I wanted to make sure that we had a house near here. I can work from anywhere. Still unsure if we want to fully transition out of the old house, since so much of the kids' memories are there, and Char's still got a few years before she'll even be opening the practice, but they're all still young enough where you set up enough fun stuff and they don't even know what their previous memories were. I don't really want to rent it out and have anybody mess up any of the sentimental stuff, but we'll probably have it for AirBNB for a while or something. Haven't decided."

"What are all these little houses, Dude?" Henry asked, pointing at a few.

"Oh, that's Jazz's treehouse, up in the tree, and Amber's dollhouse, Ruby's funhouse and the baby playhouse for the new baby. It's like a little kiddo community for them, and all of them have their dream playground in the community "backyard." On the other side is Charlotte's she shed, which is one of my birthday gifts to her…"

"It's like… the size of a regular house," Henry pointed out.

"We're on our fourth kid. Locking herself in the bathroom isn't all it's cracked up to be, even in a house as big as our last one, or even as big as the new house," he said, so casually, that it almost made sense to Henry for them to have a whole other goddamn house a few feet away from their ridiculously huge house! "And her garden is like her front yard, then there's the three dog houses. The kids want a puppy, so we'll be getting another one, and already are making room for them. The Kiddo community and the Doggo community right across the way from each other. Charlotte's she shed and her home lab on either side of the big house." He was pointing at everything. "Took YEARS to get it just perfect and I figured since the timeline was so close, that instead of doing the whole housewarming thing that we've done in the past that we'd just throw Charlotte's 30th Birthday party here and get showing off the property and showering her in love all over with in one event. Plus, Diamond is coming ANY day now, so by the time we've got them coming home, there won't be time for socializing between getting them nursed, Char's fellowship, getting doctors and scientists and stuff for the clinic, lab, and the spaces in the center, and…" he shrugged. Henry noted that Jasper looked the happiest that he had ever seen him. Like, everything in his life was perfect. He hoped Charlotte was feeling the same. He had been super busy at work. Springtime was very hectic for weddings and his busiest summer was right around the corner. Plus, he had a man now, and was still a Swellview hero.

"So, you decided on Diamond, huh?" Piper asked. "Just keeping the whole crystals/stones thing going?"

"After Jasper, who was of course just named for me, we went with birthstones. Wanted to have their names be closer connected to Jasper's than ours or something else. Amber was better than Citrine or Topaz…"

"Those are mine," Henry said proudly to Piper. "November."

Piper rolled her eyes. Jasper hadn't stopped, "Ruby is my fellow Leo, and even though that's typically considered a girl's name, Ruby is thought of as King of gems, so we rationalized that it was gender neutral and that if it wasn't, we'd just have someone with a name that was as rare as the gem itself… you know, if they turned out to be a boy."

"Ruby is actually a turning out to be a nuisance. They're my favorite of all of your bad ass kids," Piper said.

Instead of arguing that they weren't bad kids (They weren't, just very free kids). "I call them "Rascal," Jasper said. "I don't understand how they get into everything that they get into at 1. Jazz and Amber Reign at least waited until they were in the terrible 2s to begin their shenanigans. I think that they're gonna be a genius, like Char. She was doing a lot at 1 too, I'm told..."

Almost as if on cue, they heard Charlotte yelling, "Andro! Ruby Andromeda Dunlop!" the three looked up to see a barely walking 1 year old running quite haphazardly, holding something that appeared to be a food item tightly in their grip, laughing all the way, with a very pregnant mother chasing after them, running as haphazardly with all of that belly to lug around.

Piper and Henry both cackled at the sight, but Jasper darted over and snatched up the baby and took the food from them. Charlotte caught up, caught her breath and explained, "I swear, I put it down for a split second to adjust my nursing pad and they grabbed it and ran!" Breathing still a little winded, she said, "Hey, Henry. Piper," and retrieved her Danish. "I know that the party hasn't started, but somebody made me miss breakfast," she said pointing at Ruby. Piper reached for the baby and they went to her willingly. "And they go to Piper before they come to me… The person with the titty milk!"

"Because, I influence them to be the most them that they can be."

"You can have them, at this rate," Charlotte said.

Jasper laughed, "She didn't mean that. She can't legally give them away. They're half mine."

"Where's their bling?" Charlotte wondered, finishing off her pastry. "They're family. They'll need it for the family photo shoot, not that it'll be very elegant, considering that Dunlop children are magnets for calamity."

"It's covered, Babe. Go sit down. You look like you've been through hell." She frowned. "Beautiful, though!"

"Shut up," she muttered, waddling back to where her seat was.

The Dunlops were dressed in all white and diamonds (or you know, knock off crystals for the kids) for _Charlotte's 30th Birthday Diamond Ball._

Jazz had selected to wear "whatever Daddy is wearing," so they had a smaller version of his white, suit with opaque floral embroidery and crystal embellishments. They also already had their pants rolled up to the knees and had taken their mass of curls out of the neat braided bun that Charlotte had painstakingly put it into this morning. Fortunately, she'd had the foresight to make sure that they did the immediate family photo shoot before everything else. Charlotte noticed on the way back to her seat that Jazz had also taken their shoes and socks off. They were literally untamed before the party even began. She smiled and waved at them and they waved back, "Hey, Mommy! You look like a queen!"

"If you're not gonna wear your fancy shoes, at least throw on your sneakers so you don't hurt your feet on something!" Charlotte called back.

"I've got some in the treehouse!" They rushed to the tree, electing to climb the rope, instead of the ladder to retrieve sneakers.

"You raised them to be independent," Charlotte said. "Carefree Black child. Literally carefree. They don't care 'bout nothing."

At least Amber was still put together. They had wanted to wear a princess gown. "It's a ball! I gotta wear a princess gown!" They insisted. They only had Disney ones in their collection and they needed white, so Charlotte asked them what gown they wanted a white version of. "All of them."

"You can only wear one to Mommy's birthday party, though."

"What about Daddy's birthday?"

"Daddy's gonna have a grown man friends party for his birthday. We're not gonna go to that. Maybe just have some cake at home earlier that day, and sure, you can have a gown for that, if you want."

"What about my birthday?"

"Sure. For your birthday, you can definitely wear a white gown, but which one do you want for Mommy's party?"

Amber laughed and placed a hand on Charlotte's hand, like a little adult. "No, Mommy. For my birthday, I need all the gowns. White. Also… all of them, in yellow."

Charlotte smiled and said through her teeth, "Okay. Of course, it's your birthday and Daddy has literally never told any of you 'no,' so I'm sure that we'll be fulfilling that order. Now, you wanna tell Mommy what white gown you'll wear to her ball?"

"Hmmm. Well, I think Tiana's, but white. And I need to add a bustle, so I can dance with a prince, or Daddy if there's only commoners."

"Where did you learn the word bustle?" Charlotte whispered, making notes.

"Where did they learn the word "commoners?" Jasper wondered.

They instead made Amber a white Tiana gown that was short in the front, kind of like Char's wedding dress, and a sparkly pair of white leggings, so that Amber wouldn't protest too much to the lack of a bustle. Charlotte still didn't know where they got that word from. But, passing by them on the swingset near their dollhouse, they were still dressed like she dressed them this morning, in their shoes and all.

Ruby being one, was the easiest to dress. Charlotte threw a white romper on them and a sunhat and they were the cutest kid in the world. Keeping it white and them out of trouble though? That was a task for somebody else today.

Charlotte's twinkling maternity gown and updo made her look elegant enough for the party, but between her tiredness, hot flashes, being hungry A LOT, and rushing to the bathroom so much, she was lowkey miserable. She didn't want to do a big thing for this birthday, being so close to her due date and this having been the most taxing pregnancy she had gone through, but Jasper seemed so excited about it and once the kids were in the mix with picking outfits and such, she felt obligated.

He planned it for the weekend before her actual birthday, because the next weekend (a few days after her birthday) was around the due date. It was SO CLOSE. Their birthdays would be even closer together than hers and Jazz's, which was at the beginning of the month and had been celebrated by unveiling the playground in the yard. Which was so extravagant, in Charlotte's opinion. But, they had made sure to get a lot of land specifically TO BE extravagant, if they wanted to.

Besides, Jasper paid for all of that, and what was she gonna do? Tell that man what he could and couldn't do with his hard earned money? Jasper had always been extra, and now he could afford to be.

Jazz wanted a jungle gym. Amber wanted a carousel, and Jasper filled in a lot of the rest of it with stuff that he thought would be fun for them. She wondered if he wasn't having some sort of early midlife crisis for a while, because he was extremely diligent on making this property perfect. But, that was because it would be their "Forever home" and he could pass it down from Dunlop to Dunlop for as long as they held it dear. "They've gotta hold it dear. It's gotta be perfect. It's my legacy."

Watching him handle it was one of the ways she wound up pregnant again before he could have the chance to have a procedure. That man was simply too virile! And there was something about seeing him so passionately make plans and prep for their children's futures that there was nothing sexier in the world than him in those moments. They scheduled his procedure after she realized that another Dunlop was on the way. Not that she had anything against her other 3 children, but four was twice what she initially saw for herself.

Charlotte LOVED being a mom. It was some of the best highlights of her life. She never would have expected to love it so much, but she absolutely did, aside from the pain of labor, her suffering was generally minimal. (Mainly, because she knew all of the rules medically, and she was able to figure out any necessary changes that she needed to make in her routine whenever her body called for it.

She also loved the idea of helping other people _safely _become moms, especially with the somehow increasing number of fatalities in Black women attempting to do so. So, whenever she finished medical school, her residency and fellowship, she finally was confident and prepared enough to open her own center.

She would be working as a medical biochemist, specializing in genetics for infants and childrens' care. The site had an OBGYN, a pediatrician, a gynecologist, and a fertility specialist, when they started out. She wanted to make another option for women who might not get the proper care in other facilities, as well as options for the babies and children that they had. Also, to help those who wanted to have children and had issues preventing them from doing so.

Instead of having several doctors who are not associated in the building and renting from some leaseholder, she owned the building, would work from the lab with a team she selected, to avoid the disrespect and distrust at her previous lab, and found specialists that she was interested in, bringing what she valued most to the place.

Having other Black female doctors around was also quite refreshing, for all of them and she made sure to include an onsite daycare with personally vetted childcare providers. Because she knew that she wasn't the only working mommy and that was important to her, as well. (This was a separate place from the pediatric playroom), because _that _was for the potentially sick kids. She even involved the doctors and scientists that she would have there in the development process, as a bit of an interview situation. (They didn't work for her, but she wanted the vision to work for everyone, and to find people who were on the same accord).

They called it A New Page Childcare Center, and Charlotte had never been happier in her life, as far as her work life went, as she was after getting it off of the ground. She was saving lives again, but doing it with a collective of like-minded professionals who respected and liked each other and worked well together. She could be here until she was ready to retire! Finally! She had not only found her calling, but she was able to build up something to follow it through, and she was able to see her children more throughout all of it.

Plus, even when helping a client through a strenuous process of tests and seeking out solutions or researching new ideas in genetics, she controlled her schedule and therefore was able to do things at this point in her life with Jasper and the kids that she felt guilty about not being able to do before, like family vacations and events. Henry and Craig FINALLY tied the knot shortly after Hen turned 33, and it was her center that they came to when seeking out a surrogate.

At the center, they were able to speak with a surrogacy agent, because by that time, the center had grown to include an agency for surrogacy and one for adoption. By finding all these childcare specialists and providers and making room for them in her property, it was easy for people to explore all of these options in one place, and there were frequently workshops on site available for training in doula and midwife work, becoming foster parents, and NUMEROUS paid internships in every single one of the areas in the place.

Now, most of these ideas she came up with, in tandem with Jasper during pillow talk. She knew if he knew how to do one thing, it would be to tell her truthfully how to have a fulfilling workspace. She just had never thought that she would be able to put all of these professions and occupations in one space. Whenever he would say, "Why don't you just find one and get them in your building?" she would immediately think, _I can't do that! _But now, she wasn't even sure WHY she ever thought that she couldn't do it!

She guessed it sounded like too much. She guessed that it would be too hard to maintain rules, regulations, etc… But, Jasper pointed out, "But, they don't work for you. As long as they can pay you to be in that space, it's an advantage to you all to have sources nearby to suggest. If fertility isn't working out, your fertility specialist can suggest going to, you know… the fourth floor for a surrogate or the fifth floor for the adoption agency, etc. That way, they don't have to look around, which would be additional stress and sometimes, you may be able to have a representative from the office of their next step come to speak with them and build rapport in that moment where they've lost a little bit a hope, to meet and reassure them that the last step was only another stepping stone and assure them that they will give their all to this particular leg of the journey." There was always a brilliant idea coming out of him! She loved that man so much, more and more all of the time.

.

The various talks that had to be had with them were generally successful. Having two socially conscious parents, they were going to get lessons about everything whenever they either were about to go out into the world on their own (school and such) or for more heavy topics, whenever they seemed to want to know. Of course, first and foremost was the way that people outside might perceive and treat them.

Jazz looked almost just like Charlotte, but with a different curl pattern. Her hair mostly grew down, but it was poofy enough that it fluffed out at the sides. It gave her just enough "other" for people to ask her "Black, and what else?" but, if she had it up or something, nobody even bothered.

Amber was the only one that was really "light skinned," but she always got a little browner in the summer. Her hair was curly like Jasper's when he was a kid and it didn't grow down, but out, so she had a huge curly fro.

Jazz said that Ruby was her mini… like she wasn't cut from the very same cloth as Charlotte. Ruby had hair like Charlotte's and similar features. Slightly less brown, but definitely darker than Amber. She looked even more like Charlotte, because they had similar mannerisms and the same face and hair.

Diamond was only a couple of shades darker than Amber, but she had more of Jasper's features than the others, who were basically molds of Charlotte with the slight differences mentioned, and her eyes were light colored. Well, they were somewhere between a hazel and a chestnut. Jasper insisted that she had his mom's eyes. Charlotte just denied it on principle. She lowkey did have Pansy's eyes and was really the only one that could "pass for a Dunlop," according to some of the comments Charlotte had overheard and seen on posts before Jasper blocked somebody. People sometimes joked with Jasper to ask him if he was sure those were all his kids, but they quickly retracted these jokes, whenever they noted his face or body language. When Jazz was little, he'd be more likely to kick someone's ass over it. By the time Amber came, it was asked less, but when it was brought up, Jazz was singled out! She "didn't look mixed enough" someone said, in that way that he could tell they felt like they were just being honest. She looked just like her mother, if she had wavy hair! And… what did people think that he was going to presume that they were suggesting about his wife when they asked him shit like that or made a funny little comment.

His mother made that mistake years ago. "I just don't see any part of you in that one," she said, opting to try to pick up Amber as she nudged her forehead towards Jazz. Amber hid behind her older sister. Something about Pansy made her nervous. The woman sighed and tacked on, "I don't think it would hurt to get them DNA tested, just in case…"

And he told her, "If you hadn't given me life, I would sock you in the mouth for that." (Jasper never made threats like that at her and she was shook).

"I was kidding! She's just way darker than I thought she should be," she had said about Jazz (which was PRIOR to Jazz identifying as a girl and ALSO made him upset that she called them a she), but Pansy had come out of that. They kept some distance between themselves and her until she had to seek them out and agree to the proper language and appropriate treatment. Then, Jasper monitored every time she was around for a long time before her and Charlotte were comfortable enough (and the kids were comfortable enough) for her to be allowed to spend time with them by herself.

She was a much better grandmother than she had been a mom, and he came to realize that a lot of people were weird about the fact that 3 out of 4 of his biracial kids didn't quote unquote "really _look _biracial," so they wanted to tell the girls about it whenever it was time for Jazz to go to her private school. Jasper wanted them in public school. There was one not too far from the house and it was considered when he bought it. But, they compromised that the kids could go to a private head start, maybe public elementary, and then Charlotte insisted on the private school when they got into junior high. But, after head start, all of Jazz's friends were going to private school and she wanted to go, as well. Jasper wondered if Charlotte knew this would happen when she made that deal with him. She simply smirked in response.

"What the fuck is biracial?" Jazz had asked whenever the race talk came up. Charlotte threw her head back and Jazz winced, "Sorry, Mom." She honestly never let go of the word, since she was 2 years old. But, she also had just presumed that since half of her family was different shades of brown and the other half were lesser shades of brown that other people had families that were just all kinds of browns and lesser browns, even those lesser brown people she knew from pre-k.

Realizing that Uncle Henry and Uncle Craig were not going to be able to come together and simply make brown cousins or lesser brown cousins was like a shock to her system. They had to grow a baby somewhere else and try to pick somebody that would have some similar traits. Then, learning that people might be meaner to her because she was a darker brown than Daddy was alarming, to say the least, and that even more people might treat her differently because of her private areas that they couldn't even see? She was scandalized and horrified. But… she said that sounded like it meant that girls were tougher than boys and she was "tough enough to be a girl."

"It's not really a matter of toughness. It's more like what you feel like you are, inside. And it doesn't have to be a girl, or even a boy. You might feel like something else that you don't quite have the words for, and we'll help you find the right words, if that's the case or maybe even you'll have new words for us that are more catered to who you feel like you are inside." Charlotte said.

"Well, I don't _not _feel like a girl. I feel like a girl who is strong and brave. Whatever that is is my gender. I don't care. It's never mattered before. I just am scared of the people out there that might try to treat me like I'm a Black girl. (I am, but… that's scary stuff, Mom."

"We'll protect you as much as we can," Jasper said.

"I have literally seen your father punch more than a few people for treating mommy some kind of way," Charlotte admitted. Jasper's face showed he had zero regrets about those choices.

"Don't worry Dad. I have a mean right hook," Jazz said.

"Damn right you do. That's that Dunlop Dumb Drop!" And with just that, the kid gestured for a double high five and they growled in each others faces and started barking.

Charlotte, feeling left out said, "I have some drops too."

Both of them looked at her and burst into crying laughter. "Mom, please, do not do this to me!" Jazz said as Jasper wiped his eyes from actually crying laughing about it. "Oh, you oughtta end all these talks like that. Who can feel worried when you've got this shining sense of humor."

Charlotte folded her arms, but couldn't help but to laugh, in spite of herself of the fact that her young child thought it hilarious that she could drop somebody. "I never said with my fists, Kid. I'm a scientist and a doctor. I know at least one hundred ways to drop somebody without ever touching them. A lot of them, untraceable." She threw a look at Jasper, who immediately stopped laughing.

"Well, that's just terrifying," Jazz admitted.

Charlotte winked, "Only for my enemies."

Now, Jazz offered _her _double high fives and said, "Friends for life!"

Amber was concerned about things, but mostly about partnership. _Why, at her age?_ They didn't know, but they just answered her questions when they arose. "So. IF I AM a girl, feel like a girl, like things that the world says is for girls, but I also LIKE girls. Like, REALLY like girls, like - like them, you understand… can I still be a girl?"

"If you think you are, yes."

"But, the world says that girls like boys, right? I _hate_ boys. They're smelly and unkind. They never like to wear pretty dresses that would be gorgeous on them. They hit you and say it's because they like you, so if you want to hit them back, you don't want to, because you don't want them to think you like them, a stupid boy!"

Jasper balled his fists, "Who the hell hit you?"

"Daddy, don't get mad. Since hitting means boys like you, I didn't hit him back, so he wouldn't think I like him. Instead, I put mud in his sandwich when everybody was at recess." She smiled proudly.

"Well, I'm glad that you got him back. But, next time, just hit him. Nobody gets to put their hands on you and if they really liked you, they wouldn't. Also, who was it?"

"Are you gonna go punch the kid, Jasper?" Charlotte asked.

"I MIGHT!"

Charlotte changed the subject. "Not all boys are like that, but if you just don't like boys, that's still fine. You can like whoever you like."

"I like girls."

"Cool. Uncle Henry is a boy who likes a boy, Uncle Craig. And Uncle Jake and Uncle Ray…"

She looked frustrated, "Do only boys get to like boys in the world?" They'd already warned her that people are mean to girls, was not being able to like like other girls part of that meanness?

"No! Everybody gets to like whoever they like and sometimes the world is mean about it, but sometimes the world is nice."

"The world better be nice to me, because there's plenty of dirt out there for me to put on their sandwiches."

Jasper whispered, "She's terrifying, like you."

"If by that you mean that she's brilliant, thank you," Charlotte whispered back and kissed him briefly.

"Hi. Could you not? I don't really want to have to see boys and girls kiss in my own home," Amber said, inciting cackles from both of them.

Ruby didn't care either way. Whenever they told her all these things, they said they didn't have questions, were undecided on if they knew what their gender was and didn't care about racist people because, "I have a big, strong dad, a mom that can kill people quietly, an older sister who fights people and one that pees in people's colas. I think that I'm well protected."

Jasper and Charlotte were nodding, presuming that they probably had talked to their sisters about this before, but both stopped at "pees in people's colas" and said, "Wait, what?" Ruby tilted their head, acting like they had no idea what they were asking about.

"I have nothing further," Ruby said. They kept the "their/them" pronouns throughout life. It just seemed like a lot to them, to sit there and think and decide who they felt like when their upbringing didn't place any value on gender roles. But, they were also fine with whatever pronouns someone else used for them. It didn't really matter.

Henry retired from hero life at 50.

The Dunlop kids and the Hart kids got together to plan a Semi-Centennial celebration for their parents, instead of calling in a joint birthday celebration. A lot of things were happening within a few years' time. Jasper and Charlotte being married for 25 years, Jazz becoming a professional athlete, Amber getting engaged to her college sweetheart, Ruby graduating from high school at the top of their class, JUST like their mom and going into an entire new wave of technology that fascinated Charlotte, and Diamond going into high school, and the fact that Uncle Henry was getting ready to "settle peacefully from everything else" and focus on H3art Eyes until his official retirement… so retiring from Captain Danger so that he could have at least some good years in the wedding shop with his kids and husband, just living his life.

His Dad and Ray had bought a boat a while back, which they mostly lived on, did some traveling in and also continued to enjoy perks such as the old Man Copter, which Ray basically just redecorated and put a cheesy postcard like caricature of the two of them on the side of it. The same for the RV that Jake brought, for whenever they wanted to travel on land. They were both retired and had no small kids. Ray never told Jake about Captain Man. The Hart kids agreed that he just COULDN'T have that information. It didn't matter, anyway. They had been working well for about 20 years at that point. Neither chose to get married, but what they had was pretty undeniable.

The child advocate in Charlotte Ambrosia Dunlop got with Schwoz years prior to come up with a way to keep Swellview safe from the villain threats without training children to work as heroes until they couldn't. It was a solution that they sort of came to simultaneously, and Schwoz was very upset that he hadn't really considered it before… Clone generation. Recreating a Captain Man and Captain Danger clone and having the Man Cave computer know just how and when they would need to be replenished! Charlotte didn't want Schwoz to have to stay there, being the brain behind the thing, so she convinced him to make a Safe Halley, to control it all and to simply keep access to it, if something went wrong, one of them could go sort it out if they had to. But, they didn't. They never had to again, and Swellview was still quite safe.

.

_Charlotte, Jasper, Henry, Piper, Ray, and Schwoz sit on the patio, looking at the view of the sunsetting on the mountains during their annual Man Fam Getaway… "Our life was stupid crazy. I wouldn't change a thing," Charlotte said and everybody heard her and they all agreed._

*** The End***


End file.
